Perils Past
by May I Never Be Perfect
Summary: AU FINALE - OUTLAW QUEEN - What if instead of Emma and Hook falling through the time-portal Robin and Regina fell through? What if instead of Emma and Hook watching the Evil Queen threaten Marian's life, Robin and Regina watched her younger self threaten Marian instead?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

'_You!_' he spat, his eyes wild and frantic.

'You captured her?'

'I –'

'My Marian?!'

'I – I – Robin.'

She shook her head, took a step in his direction, but he took three back. Her jaw involuntarily clenched together in response to the rising bitterness in his eyes. The trust and respect that had developed so effortlessly between them over the course of the past few weeks now lay broken between them.

But it had all happened such a long time ago. She'd taken dozens of lives during her reign. Death and destruction had been part of her identity, and these days she told herself that she had needed to be that woman. She had to believe that her past mistakes had enabled her to grow into the person she had become now. Their lives together, their feelings for each other they were pure. True. She had moved beyond that darkness, and the past had created a door into a better future. The Evil Queen hadn't known better, had had no desire to feel anything but hatred and an insatiable hunger for vengeance. Almost every innocent soul that had crossed her path in those days had ended up dead, or scorched beyond recognition.

It had only been a couple of minutes, and at the same time a lifetime ago that she'd been witness to exactly the type of fury she'd carried around in those days, or was it the present? The sight of her younger-self had chilled her bone and marrow; it had been an eerie sight to witness the darkness in her eyes and to hear the malice in her own voice. To observe the exterior of a woman she had only ever experienced from a first person point-of-view, it had been devastating. How had she ever let it come to that?

'That's you!' Robin had exclaimed from their position behind the bushes. He'd almost sounded excited.

'Keep your voice down,' she'd snapped.

She hadn't wanted to snap at him but she'd felt uncharacteristically afloat. It was as though she was looking at a reflection of herself, one that, if you stare hard and long enough turns into a separate image, a separate identity, but this time the detachment wasn't an illusion. It had become reality. She had no concrete memories of the exact day or time, but she knew, due to the posters plastered to every other tree, that this present day was part of the distant past she had ruthlessly been trying to hunt down Snow-White. Those had been her darkest years. During that time she'd often thundered through villages, throwing threats and magic around, making sure nobody would dare thwart her.

She also always made sure that she would leave a lasting impression on the poor and the weak. Peasants that had aided Snow-White in one way or another would be condemned to die at her hand in front of all of the townspeople. They served as an example, an example of how not to behave.

Marian.

Robin's Marian had embodied that role that day. Of all of the days and of all of the places, they were now in the exact moment when she'd torn through a village in which Marian had served as the fear inducing pawn that was supposed to keep her lowly subjects in line. She hadn't known then, even now she couldn't remember the woman, no matter how hard she tried. Her face was as unknown to her as all of the other faceless people she'd killed before and since. Marian had just been another ant to her. Another disobedient insect waiting to be crushed.

'Marian?!' Robin had all but screamed. She'd clamped a hand over his mouth, her heart beat tripling as she waited. Had her younger self heard his anguished cry?

No.

She'd let out a long breath and then Robin tore himself from her side. She'd tried to pull him back, but her arms were not strong enough and he'd dragged her across the ground, her stockings catching on twigs and leafs scratching her knees open.

'No!' she'd hissed.

'You can't!'

He was stronger and her magic... there was something wrong with her magic. She had flicked her hands at him a dozen times, but nothing had happened. she couldn't stop him. And so there was nothing she could do, but he needed to stop. He could not be seen. The consequences…

'She will kill you and Marian,' she'd impressed upon him, 'think of Roland!'

And that had done the job. Just in time. Another step and he would have been visible to all.

He'd turned to her then, his eyes wild with anger, hate, resentment.

'That's my wife,' he angrily repeated, then pointed toward the village.

'Did you kill her?!'

She felt herself grow weak, her eyes pleading for him to understand. She wasn't sure, couldn't tell, but all the odds were against her. If she'd captured Marian, then yes, there was a chance Marian had died at her hand.

She shook her head, looked away, her eyes caught one of the Snow-White wanted posters, then she sighed and said,

'Possibly.'


	2. Chapter 1

**1.**

'What the hell did you do to her?!' He yelled.

She took a step back. The look in his eye, so unfamiliar, a chill ran down her spine. No. She pushed her thoughts back, she couldn't succumb to these feelings, one of them needed to remain detached, even if what was between them had been destroyed beyond repair, there was no time to dwell on all of that now. Their most immediate concern, the one that needed all of their attention right now was that they were stuck in the past and she had no way of getting them back to the present. She needed to think, she couldn't let her emotions overwhelm her, break her.

'I don't remember. It was a long time ago.'

A slow ache spread through her body, but she forced herself to continue, 'I killed a lot of people, Robin. You know that,' as though reminding him of her past wrongdoings justified her actions.

He nodded, his eyes darting from the road to the trees, her words only half registering.

She wished she could remember, had irrefutable proof that it had been she who had killed Robin's wife. If she had, if it had been her fault...

Well, what a sick and twisted joke that would be. Another bad hand dealt to her by destiny himself, and whoever was responsible for presenting that string of unfortunate events to her really had it in for her, didn't they? But who could she blame? Nobody. It was not as though destiny was someone she could look up in the yellow pages, threaten or burn to the ground. She had done this to herself. The Evil Queen had been responsible for it all, and Regina? Regina was paying the price for it once more.

Robin ran a hand through his hair, some of the anger seemed to seep out of him as he did, replaced by a forced calmness.

'I have to save her,' he said. She saw how a familiar determination latched onto his features. Her stomach clenched together.

'You can't,' she stepped in front of him, blocking his path. 'You can't interfere with the timeline. We're not even supposed to be here. If you save Marian, it could create a whole string of unforeseeable consequences. You could compromise the timeline in such a way that –'

'What would you have me do?! Watch the woman I pledged my life to die at the hands of the woman I...' He trailed, the fight drained from his voice.

She took a step in his direction her hand reaching for his face but he grabbed her wrist in and shoved it down.

'Don't,' he shook his head, 'Just don't.'

It was like he had stabbed her, directly in the heart. Robin had never rejected her before. He had always welcomed her into his arms, his heart, his life. But not now, not when he needed comfort the most. It hurt. It hurt a lot. She mentally pushed the pain from her mind. She would not dwell on that now. She could not.

'Listen,' but he refused to look at her, his eyes fixated on a point behind her, accepting, for the moment, the unfeasibility of their situation.

'Robin, please,' her voice quivered.

He looked at her, regarding her with such coldness it froze her to the core.

'I know,' she swallowed down the lump that had formed in her throat. 'I'm probably the last person you want to see or talk to right now, but I'm not her,' she pointed in the direction of the village, where the Evil Queen had taken Marian moments before. 'And I don't even know for sure if I truly –' she hesitated. '- killed your wife,' she felt the tears prick behind her eyes then, but she held on tight, she needed for him to hear this. 'But we need to find a way home and I can't do that without you.' Her voice broke, just a little and his eyes softened ever so slightly.

'I need you.'

And she did. Now that her magic was failing her, he was all that she had left. Broken or not, there was no soul in this land or time that could help her, or even understand the situation they were in now. They needed to stick together, find a way home and fix the mess they'd created. Fix the mess her sister had created.

He closed his eyes and she watched his struggle. He knew what she was alluding to and as much as he hated to admit it, as much as he wanted to go after Marian and throw all caution to the wind, it would all be useless if he couldn't return to Roland.

'I need to think,' he finally said. 'Alone.'

Her heart dropped into her stomach, but she understood. He needed time, and though she did not like it, for every second they spend in the godforsaken past the more damage their presence could inflict upon the present, he needed time, so she nodded.

She watched him disappear behind the trees, his shoulders slouched as though a ton of bricks was weight him down with each new step he took; she felt it pull at her too. If only they hadn't seen Marian. Of all the timelines and places, why this one? Had it been her doing? Had it been her thoughts the time portal had latched onto, had some part of her wanted this to happen. Or had it been his thoughts? His desire for change?

Some hours past, and she feared he would not return, but he did and when she saw him she immediately noticed his change of clothes. A bow hung over his shoulder, a full sack of supplies hung from the other.

She stood but remained quiet, watching him, waiting.

'I brought you some clothes.' He nodded at the outfit she was wearing and then handed the sack over. She took it and reached inside. A dress. Nothing fancy, a plain grey one that had been weaved and stitched in the same style and color most of the villagers in and around her kingdom wore. She'd only ever once dressed as a peasant before. She hadn't enjoyed the experience much. In fact, she had almost been killed then. The life of a peasant wasn't about roses.

'Where did you–?' she gave him a puzzled look.

'One of my camps isn't far from here.' Robin started to explain. 'We usually spend the winter there and hide some of our weapons and clothing in the trees when we leave in the summer. That one –' He motioned his head toward the sack. 'wa- is one of Marian's dresses.' He paused 'I figured we might want to blend in and not stand out if we don't want to influence the timeline.'

She nodded. She had been worried about the same.

'Listen,' he said, his tone softer, maybe his walk had cleared his mind after all. 'I've given this some thought and I've decided that I'm going after her. I'm going to save my wife.'

She gripped the sack tighter.

'You can't,' she repeated her earlier mantra. 'I told you what that could do to the timeline.'

'Will it do anything, really? Has time travel ever been done before?' He retorted, but didn't wait for an answer. 'None of us truly knows what will happen to the present timeline if I rescue my wife. Honestly, I don't see how saving Marian's life could be in anyone's disinterest. Roland would grow up with a mother and the world would be a better place with her in it. She is a good person.'

Regina looked away and dropped the sack between them.

'What about us?' she asked.

Had he ever considered what changing the timeline would do to what they had had for however short a time they'd had it? He set his jaw, his fists clenching and unclenching at his side. He had. Of course he had. But he didn't care, not now, not when there was hope for his Marian, the one he would walk through hell for. He had a chance now, an opportunity and could she really expect him to waste it? Would she not have done the same in his place? Would she not have saved Daniel in his place?

'We wouldn't know any better,' he said.

It was true. If they did save Marian and altered the timeline in such a way that it would include his wife, then Regina would never have been with Robin. He'd be with his wife and she would be none the wiser. But she didn't want to be none the wiser.

'I don't want to not know any better.'

It was selfish she knew, but she never thought she would have this again, and now that she had found it, found him, how was she to lose her soulmate again?

'I only managed to defeat my sister because of you, because of what I feel for you.' She was grasping at straws, forcing reasons down his throat as to not destroy what they had. That which had been torn to shreds the moment he had set his eyes on Marian and had watched the Evil Queen taunt her.

'You have enough good inside of you, Regina. You don't need me. Your love for your son will be enough.'

His eyes, windowless, cold.

'And what if it's not?' her voice grew louder. 'What if my sister destroys me? Alters the timeline? What then? You may have your wife then but you're condemning me. You're condemning my son and every single person I ever met in my life. How can you be so selfish?!'

'Selfish?!' he roared.

'Most of the people you ever met ended up dead or miserable!'

She took in a sharp breath and stepped backward, burned by his words. He had never called her out on that. He had never brought up her past, he knew who she was, who she had been. He had always known. He had accepted that. He had.

'She is gone, Robin.' Regina glowered, her voice dangerously low. 'Let her go.'

'But she isn't,' he retorted. 'She is alive and if you don't let me do this and we leave...' he inhaled deeply before continuing. 'Knowing that my Marian will die at your hands, I don't think I would _ever_ be able to forgive you,' his eyes burned into hers. 'I would not be able to forgive myself.' His voice trembled and tears formed in his eyes. His beautiful conflicted eyes.

She shook her head.

'And I can't let you endanger my son's life.' Bitterness consumed her now. She would fight to the death for Henry if that was what it took for him to back down.

'Then it seems we have a problem.'

'Yes, yes, it seems we do.'

A tear slipped down her cheek and she turned around. She couldn't hold them back any longer. There was too much she couldn't do, too many conflicting emotions she could not label and store away. No matter from which angle she looked at it, she stood much to lose. If she allowed for him to go on his rescue mission she would probably lose it all. She wasn't sure if she could go through that again, nor if she wanted to fight that battle with her _soulmate_.


	3. Chapter 2

**2.**

Fingertips. His fingertips, specifically, floating across her side, skimming skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps on their way upward. Teasing. Then gone, replaced with soft lips. But oh those fingertips. She sighed and arched her back, wanting more, wanting those fingertips, those lips to skim across places that made her writhe and buck beneath him with relentless pleasure. He was relentless. The way he woke her.

'You fell asleep on me.' His smiling lips vibrated against her skin.

Her eyes fluttered open and he moved closer, stealing kisses along her neck before finally claiming her lips with tender possessiveness. His tongue slipped inside, tangled with hers, desiring more. She wrapped her arms around his neck and groaned into his mouth when the evidence of that same desire pressed hard against her inner thigh.

He swallowed the sound, heat pushed through her body, pooling low and wet and she shifted in place, to accommodate, for she wanted him too, just as badly, desire coaling hard in her midsection. His tip brushed against her entrance and she bucked beneath him, encouraging him. He smiled, a wicked smile and then gradually sank into her, slowly, languidly, filling her, never once breaking eye contact. Magic crisped the air around them, just like the night before, confirming what both already knew. Their souls; made for one another. He moved leisurely, taking his time, filling the lazy morning air with quiet sounds of their lovemaking. He took pleasure in her soft whimpers and –

Her eyes flew open. Her breath labored and sporadic coming in short pants. Disorientated and cold she pushed herself up, her fingers curling around twigs and dirt. Where the hell was she? She scoured the dark with her eyes. The Enchanted Forest. She turned to her side. Across the now extinct fire, her gaze landed on his motionless form and though it was dark she could see him, his eyes on her, watching her, wide eyed, awake and aware. Had he heard her restless fidgeting? Had she spoken in her sleep? He turned around then, without a word, his back to her. It tugged at her, painfully so and a wave of nausea consumed her. She wrapped her arms tightly around her body, rocking back and forth in place, oxygen a commodity that was hard to come by. She had to get away from here, from him. She pushed herself up from the ground. Her legs protesting - her muscles quite unaccustomed to the cold night air - bucking beneath her. She took a moment, maybe two, she wasn't sure, then pushed herself onto her knees. The grey dress tugged at her and she dropped forward, catching herself only just in time before she could fall face down to the ground. What a mess. Dirt clung to her hands, she rubbed them off on her dress. Marian's dress. _Why?_ Her mind screamed, her dream still so vivid. But it hadn't been a dream, not really. It had been a memory, a bittersweet memory. Never had she been caressed and touched the way he had touched and caressed her. Never had she allowed anyone to get that close, hand over that much control. But with him she had. With him she had felt save and whole.

She pushed at the ground again and this time her legs cooperated, still sore but functional, she passed two or three trees before she heavily slid down the fourth one. Dizziness consumed her. She had to get her breathing under control. Panic wasn't an emotion she was overly familiar with but she recognized it and it was here now, imprisoning her. A few labored moments past, then a loud crackling tore her gaze upward and her eyes landed on a bag. A paper take-out bag, one from Granny's diner.

'Breathe into it,' he said, hunching down in front of her. His voice flat, but at least he still cared enough to follow her, even help her. That was something. Or maybe it was just his duty bound honor, that same honor she believed had kept him from abandoning her entirely. He could have just left her, he would have been fine. Unlike her, he knew how to survive without magic. Magic. She still didn't understand why it eluded her now. Where had her magic gone?

'Thank you.' She gratefully took the bag from him, gratitude he scarcely accepted, but he sat down next to her nonetheless. She covered the bag over her lips, feeling it inflate and deflate under her touch, with each new breath she took. Her dizziness slowly dissipated and her scattered thoughts gradually strung together returning as one, pulling her back from her oxygen deprived high. She relaxed, her back stretching along the bark of the tree, her lungs straining and relaxing the way they should.

'You always take empty bags with you on jaunts to different timelines?' she broke the silence. The sassy remark had slipped from her lips before she had been able catch herself. He smiled, a small smile, but remained quiet, continuing his staring session into nothingness.

'I hate this.' She huffed and dropped her hands in her lap, then traced the paper bag with her fingers, her eyes not seeing but her mind remembering the words written across it in whites and blues. 'I don't want us to be this way.'

He shook his head and looked down, his defiant indifference tormenting her and the bag tore where her fingers pulled at it.

'You do understand why I have to do this?' He said.

Oh she knew. She'd always known.

'Because she's the mother of your child, she's your true love.' The bitter words tasted foul in her mouth, but she knew that there was no battle to be won here, not even a fight to start with.

He turned to her then.

'Yes. Roland needs her, and I made a promise to myself long ago that if there was ever a way that I could go back and do it all over again I would make the right choice.' He said, his expression solemn. 'I loved – I love her,' he quickly corrected himself, ignoring the pain that flashed across her face. 'But aside from all that there is now another reason why I need to do this, Regina.'

His eyes pierced through hers, holding her in place.

'I don't want her blood on your hands.'

She shook her head and the mangled bag loudly tore in two.

'Does it matter?' her voice harsh, regarding him with the same intensity. 'I killed dozens. If I was responsible for your wife's death in the original timeline then I have already done what you're so hell-bend on changing.' She fully turned to him then, her body shifting closer to him, the weight of her deeds too heavy to remain hidden any longer. 'I killed your wife, Robin.'

He visibly flinched and abruptly turned away.

'It matters.' He retorted, determination latching onto his features like despair does to denial in dying creatures. He shifted his gaze back to that same nothingness he'd been regarding so intently minutes ago, where he preferred the trees and darkness holding his musings company over her.

'Fine.' She said, her own resolutions wavering. She could not talk him out of this. She doubted even she would be able to talk herself out of saving Daniel if it had been her in his place. 'Save her.'

He whirled back.

'What?'

'Save her.' She repeated.

'What about your son?'

_Now_ he was concerned about her Henry's existence?

'We take her with us.' It would solve their conflict, though it would not solve the ache in her heart.

'We can do that?' his features beamed.

'Can I stop you from saving her?' she retorted bitterly.

'No.'

'Then yes we can do that.'

His eyes lit up and he fully turned his attention on her now. His anger momentarily forgotten as renewed hope almost burst out of him.

'Will you help me get into your castle?'

Her castle? Had that been it? Was that why he had not stormed after his wife in the first place? Not because of magic, but because he had no way of breaking into her evil lair? It struck her that maybe that was the reason why he hadn't abandoned her. Maybe honor had had nothing to do with it. He just needed her, she had been reduced to nothing but a mere tool in less than 24 hours. What a fool she'd been. What a dominated fool.

'If I do.' She said, tears pricking and pushing behind her eyes. 'If I help you and we manage to get back to Storybrooke with your wife alive, then you have to promise me one thing.'

'Anything.' He eagerly nodded, his eyes wide. He would do anything for his Marian.

'When we get back,' Her voice shook. 'I don't ever want to see you again.' A tear slipped down. 'You're not to talk to me or look for me.' She clenched her fists, the torn bag crunching under her abusive touch. 'You will leave Storybrooke with your wife and Roland, take your men for all I care,' she swallowed and closed her eyes, her heart beating loudly, bleeding. 'But don't_ever_ come back.'

He stared at her. His expression grave and for the first time since he watched his wife being dragged off by her past self he regarded her with something other than anger. Pain. There was pain in his expression. He considered her words for a few moments, mulled it over in his head and then finally she watched him slowly nod his consent.

'Agreed.'

And she was sure she had never felt more empty and broken before.


	4. Chapter 3

**3.**

She heard them before she saw them. Thundering hooves resonating in the not too far off distance, accompanied by voices; angry booming voices. Slowly she pushed herself into a sitting position and blinked the sleep from her eyes. An unfamiliar sliver of fear demanded to be felt as her gaze travelled in the direction of the sound and then to the man beside her. Robin was already wide-awake and sat squatted with one hand on the ground, his bow draped over his shoulder, eyes glued in the direction of the fast approaching riders.

'They're close,' he said. 'Very close.'

'Black knights,' she stated with a type of fearless determination she did not feel. She could see them now. There was nowhere to hide. Running would draw unwarranted attention to their fleeing figures. The best they could hope for was to remain unseen in an open clearing. _As if_, she thought bitterly. She pulled her hood over her head. If they were to be seen it was best she remained anonymous for as long as possible. Although she didn't look the part of the Evil Queen it would only take one knight with a keen eye for detail to figure out whose twin-like features hers resembled.

'Stay down,' Robin commanded, as though she needed to be told.

She flattened herself against the ground as best as she could, her chameleon like cloak pulled tightly over her body. She willed her heart to slow, to not fear what would happen if her knights discovered them, but it was as though she was trying to calm a ragging storm with sheer willpower alone. Her body ignored her thoughts and her heart pounded heavily while the sound of trampling hooves drew impossibly close.

'Well, well, well,' and there it was, that dreaded moment. 'What have we got here?' she instantly recognized his voice, though it had been a long time since she'd last heard it. Tynan. Poor, poor Tynan. Poor dead Tynan.

'Two wandering tramps,' he spat and she pulled her hood even farther over her face in response.

'Good morning,' Robin said, she felt him move and then stand. 'Have mercy, we're but two poor peasants travelling home.'

'You're on royal grounds, you filthy tramp,' another unfamiliar voice boomed near where Tynan had spoken.

'We got lost last night,' he answered. 'But if you could just point us in the direction of the nearest town then we'll be on our way again.'

'Wait a second,' a third voice chimed in. 'I know you!'

She squeezed her eyes shut, a knight with a keen eye, just what they needed. She knew what the knight was referring to. She'd caught glimpse of his poster last night. And although his posters didn't appear as frequently as Snow's, he was wanted nonetheless. Wanted by the Sheriff, wanted by her. It had been a collaborative effort back in the day. The Sheriff of Nottingham had promised to help her catch Snow White if she hunted the king of thieves for him. She'd tried and she'd failed, obviously.

'You're that thief!' the same voice boomed. 'Robin Hood!'

She heard dark and low murmurs and the sound of bows strings stretching tight as realization dawned on to the dimwitted riders. She chanced a careful glance in their direction, there were six of them in total and though there were two of them, without magic and only one skilled archer, they were heavily outnumbered.

There was no other way.

She slowly got to her feet, the eyes of the riders settled on her, their bows stretched a little tighter and half of them turned their bows on her as they waited and watched. She pulled her hood from her head with one shift motion and the knights visibly startled at the sight of her. The one with the keen eye; the first to speak.

'Your majesty!' he gasped, the color had drained from his face and his bow slackened at the sight of her.

'That is correct,' she spoke regally. 'Your Queen stands before you,' she lifted her chin in a manner she hoped resembled her past self even without the dark make-up and suggestive attire.

'How dare you point that weapon at me!' she demanded, eyes wide with unconcealed anger. Most of the bows around her immediately lowered, but the confusion on their faces remained. Something was off. Even their tiny little inferior brains understood that what their eyes were seeing was a lie to their brains.

'What type of trickery is this?!' Tynan bellowed and the only one with his bow and arrow still pointing at her.

'You fools,' he spoke to the knights behind him. 'This can not be the Queen!'

'Oh but I am Tynan,' she dangerously barked and took a step closer. Tynan's eyes widened in response but even as they did something in his gaze remained unconvinced. She knew why. There were six of them and the reason there were six black knights trampling through the forest early in the morning was because they were but her patrol group, who had always ridden at least a mile ahead of her when she'd travelled to and from different kingdoms in the past. The Evil Queen was out there drawing closer with each second they remained where they stood and Tynan knew. He had always been smarter than most of her black knights whom attributed every unexplainable phenomena to magic.

'It can't be,' he breathed, his eyes shifting behind him and then back to her as a loud approaching sound spliced the air. Her carriage. It was drawing closer. The dangerous hum of synchronized hooves crushing soil, roots and launching dirt across the path in its fiery wake, unmistakable. She shot a panicked look at Robin, her Queen's mask slipping. Panic took its place. This could not be happening. He matched her look and motioned for her to step closer to him. She did, though the gesture caught her off guard and she visibly flinched when she felt his hand close around her wrist.

Moments later the thunderous carriage came to a sudden shrieking halt behind the patrol knights.

'Why in the hell have we stopped?!' the Queen sharply screeched from inside the carriage.

She would find out soon enough.

'I beg your pardon, your majesty.' Tynan said, his eyes never leaving hers. He was certain she was a fraud now, his real Queen safely inside the carriage.

'It seems that we have stumbled upon a sudden little roadblock,' he drawled.

'I swear, Tynan, if this turns out to be a waste of my time your head and your body will be very lonesome for one another, for a very long time.'

The carriage door dramatically swung open and a furious set of eyes surveyed the scene. The Queen was dressed in all black; her color, she had once claimed. She remembered that dress, it was the exact one her sister had stolen from her all those months ago. What was different was her hair, which was pulled into a bun, hidden beneath a red-feathered hood she had always preferred for travelling; today no exception.

It took the Queen a moment to realize what she was looking at but when she did and her eyes settled on her own disheveled features, her furry instantly washed away.

'What is this?' she dangerously whispered and stepped away from her carriage. She quickly crossed the path, ignored the knights on their horses, her eyes solely fix on this haggard looking creature that wore her face.

'What are you?!' she demanded.

Regina could only stare, her voice gone. The experience was too bizarre. This was not happening, this could not be happening. She had no memories of this moment, no recollection whatsoever but here she was looking at herself, her dangerously younger self and she knew what was to come if she didn't answer.

She straightened and scraped her throat.

'I can not answer that question,' she matched her younger self's intimidating voice. Robin's hand tightened around her wrist and she could feel his eyes burning a hole into her skull. She was threading on dangerously thin ice.

As the Queen examined her it struck her that the look on her face reminded Regina of that of a lioness circling its prey, waiting for the right moment to lash out and jump in for the kill. But before that happened the lioness wanted to play with her prey first. She recognized this strategy; she had used it on many of her victims in the past but never once did she think it possible that she would become her own victim one day.

'This is Rumpelstiltskin's doing isn't it?' the Queen dangerously whispered into her ear. Yes, she would have jumped to that conclusion. Time travel would never have crossed her mind. Shape shifting however, was the only logical explanation.

She remained quiet neither confirming nor denying Rumpelstiltskin's involvement. In truth she did not know what to tell the Queen. There was no way she would escape alive, whether she told the truth or lied about it. She knew herself too well. Knew that any imposter that crossed her path was more likely to die at her hands than survive. Apparently Robin was aware of this little well known fact as well.

'We're not from here and we haven't spoken to Rumpelstiltskin,' Robin spoke for her.

Surprised the Queen slowly turned her head, regarding Robin with such bewildered confusion as though she had only just noticed his presence beside Regina now.

'And who might you be?' The Queen surveyed him with the same intense dislike but then something changed and Regina was surprised to see the sudden shift in the Queen's eyes. It was a subtle change, not even Robin was aware of, but she caught it. And then she felt it. The soul deep connection sizzled between Robin and the Evil Queen as much as it sizzled between her and Robin and dare she admit that she felt an uninhibited jealously bubble to the front. Jealous? Of herself?

Unsettled the Queen took a gentle step backward, but she didn't fool Regina. Fear struck her insides at the sight of Robin even though she didn't know whom the man was.

'The thief, Robin Hood!' one of the Queen's knights answered.

The Queen shot the knight a dangerous look, her eyes spitting fire once more.

'Do not speak unless you're spoken to!' she boomed. 'The outlaw has a mouth and working vocal chords of his own, he can speak for himself, can't he?'

The knight averted his eyes and respectfully bowed his head.

'I apologize, my Queen.'

She narrowed her eyes at rider; he would be punished for his misbehavior later that day. She always punished them.

'He speaks the truth,' Robin confirmed and Regina closed her eyes against the sudden dread that settled in her stomach. Revealing their identity wasn't smart, but him revealing his identity was just plain stupidity.

'Robin, don't,' she said, causing the Queen to turn her attention back to her.

'No, thief. Go on. I'd like to hear what you've got to say about this silly little parlor trick of yours.'

'No!' she had no patience for this infuriating fear inducing tactic of the Queen. To be at the receiving end of such nauseating mental abuse was insulting. The Queen was her and she was the Queen. She forced herself right in front of the woman, only an inch between her face and the latter. Renewed anger flared up in the Queen's eyes and she felt a strong magical force collide with her chest, knocking her backward and before she realized what was happening her body moved upwards, her feet dangling inches from the ground, her throat contorting painfully as she watched the Queen's dead grip on her neck. She was squeezing, hard, unlike her sister who had had no intention of killing her, but this woman, her past self, had nothing to lose and nothing to gain.

'Don't! Please, stop!' Robin pleaded next to her, his voice panicked as he watched her gasp for the air her lungs could not find. A loud cackling tore from the Queen's lip.

'Tell me who you are and what it is you are plotting, and I'll let this cheap imposter go.'

'Regina.' Robin pleaded once more, but his words weren't directed at the Queen, he was looking at her, asking for permission she would never grant. No, her eyes told him. No. Not a word.

'Please, don't do this,' he turned back to the Queen.

'Give me one good reason and I won't kill her today.'

Robin stepped closer.

'I know there's good in you and I know that you don't want to do this.'

The Queen flinched, ever so slightly, then her other hand unexpectedly flew outward and knocked Robin to the ground a safe distance away.

'You don't know me, thief,' she spat, then her expression cleared and a sudden realization seemed to dawn onto her.

'You intend to replace me with this weak creature? Is that what Rumpelstiltskin is trying to do? He plans to throw me in a dungeon somewhere to rot so that this imposter can rule in my stead?'

Her lungs burned, her eyes dry and prickly and she was sure, so sure she was going to die. To die at her own hands, what a sick twist of faith this was indeed.

'No! That's not it!' Robin loudly yelled and before the dizziness entirely consumed her she saw him roughly push his left sleeve upward, revealing that fated lion tattoo. No! The Queen wasn't supposed to know about him. Not at this point in her life. But the damage had already been done, she knew who Robin was and what that lion tattoo represented.

The Queen's reaction was immediate the moment her eyes latched onto the tattoo she visibly recoiled and lost her magical hold on Regina's neck. Like a sack of potatoes she dropped to the ground, immediately oxygen painfully pushed back into her lungs. A terrible coughing accompanied her wheezing intakes of breath and it hurt, it hurt so much, she never knew how painful suffocation could be until then. But she was still alive. For now, whatever that was worth. And then she felt his arms around her. His forest scent consuming her senses, soothing her aching lungs and for a few moments, when his arms pulled her tight against his chest, she forgot where she was and who was there. She felt him tremble where he touched her. His lips pressed against her temple, whispering soft words she could not make out. Her own arms locked around his neck and she flattened herself against him, not because she was scared or feared death at the Evil Queen's hands but because until then she hadn't realized how much she had missed him. He had been so close to her all this time, but so very cold. This Robin, the one who was holding her, was the Robin who had loved her and she ached for him more than she knew.

'Enough!' an unfamiliar voice loudly invaded her senses.

She lifted her head from Robin's shoulder and there in between two trees stood a figure. The figure of a man she had never seen before, but she recognized nonetheless. She knew him well but only by name.

Merlin.


	5. Chapter 4

**4.**

He was shorter and leaner than she'd expected, wrinkled almost beyond recognition. Yet, there was something about his deep grey eyes, a distinct youthful twinkle that went beyond all reason or logic. The sort that contradicted his ancient appearance and added a layer of distorted awkwardness to his crinkled face. He was, in fact, the personification of youth and old age blend into one, a juvenile soul trapped in an old man's body.

'Enough,' he repeated, his tone softer now, laced with a type of weariness that spoke of one too many battles fought and lost.

She shifted in Robin's embrace – His arms still protectively surrounding her, his eyes curiously fixed on the wizard - and turned her attention back to the Queen. Her former self stood motionless, staring at Robin, and though she was aware of Merlin, her emotions were visibly torn. There lay conflict in her eyes, a profound aching she, herself, had been consumed by far too often in the past, but never had Robin been the cause of that conflict she was now witness to from the sidelines.

'You have tortured these souls and mocked their spirits, but enough is enough, Regina,' Merlin continued.

A few seconds passed in which the Queen remained motionless. Robin felt her stare and turned his blue orbs on her, hatred seeping out of every pore in his body and it struck Regina as ironic, for the loathing that emanated from his features and floated toward the Queen, contradicted his behavior toward her. He held her like a man who had nearly lost something profoundly valuable, but the Queen, the Queen he hated, he hated her with a passion. And it made no sense.

Another beat and the conflict in the Queen's eyes disappeared. The words Merlin had spoken piecing together into coherent speech. She sharply turned to the wizard. The wizard whom, per agreement, was not supposed to enter her kingdom without explicit permission.

'You,' she seethed. 'How dare you address a Queen with such impudence, old man?!' she darkly spat and took a step in Merlin's direction. But Regina knew as well as the Queen did, that she had recognized Merlin and that the wizard posed a threat to her and not the other way around. Her steps calculated and her words lacking the usual thunder she reserved for the peasants in her kingdom.

Merlin smiled, a genuine smile, crinkling the lines around his eyes accentuating the years that separated him from the young.

Regina chose that moment to stand, to at least regain some of the dignity she had lost at the hands of the Queen, but her legs proved to be uncooperatively wobbly and she stumbled. Robin caught her mid-fall and then guided her, one hand on the small of her back the other coming around her left arm, his concern for her labored breathing tangible. She hated her own vulnerability, her failing magic, disliked it fiercely.

'It is quite amazing,' Merlin said cheerfully and spread his arms wide, raising his staff high. 'To be privy to such a meeting of all of these _different_ kind of souls,' he bowed his head toward the Queen. 'To meet the former –' his eyes shifted to Regina. 'And the _latter_,' a chill ran down her spine as his voice lingered on the last word, drawing it out in such a way that left her with no doubt that a man who had managed to capture youth and old age in one body; knew. He knew who they were.

She took a step back, then another, communicating with her eyes to Robin that however foolish it may be they should make a run for it while the wizard and Queen exchanged hateful words with one another. Their preoccupation with each other could work in their benefit. The archer nodded uncertainly, not quite convinced her lungs were up for the task. They carefully inched backward, each step putting a little more distance between them and these people from the past, whose animated words she did not her anymore, her thoughts solely fixed on their escape.

But then without warning Merlin turned his eyes on them. 'Not so fast, you two,' he said and raised his staff; an immediate invisible barrier closed around them. Frustrated, Regina angrily banged her fists against the magical walls, but it was futile. The wizard's white magic stronger than her fury.

'It's no use,' Robin whispered near her ear, always the rational one.

'I command you to leave this instance!' the Queen's shrill voice cut through the air. The wizard's sudden use of magic had undoubtedly intimidated her and Regina recognized the panic induced anger in her own younger self's voice.

'I will do no such thing, Regina.'

'Queen,' she corrected him, her eyes dangerously wide and mad looking, she took another step closer to the wizard. 'We had an agreement, an agreement you just broke. You are trespassing on my grounds, you are interfering where you should not and you have insulted me _twice _now. Trespassing alone could be reason enough for an execution, _Merlin_,' she stopped. But I'm in a good mood today,' she paused and turned to the side. 'I will let you off with a warning if you _leave_ this instance.'

'Alas,' the wizard bowed his head in mock regret. 'I cannot, until you give me what I came here for.'

She cackled loudly.

'You're in no position to make demands.'

'I beg to differ,' he countered unabashed.

He narrowed one eye and pointed his staff in Regina and Robin's direction.

'They -' he smiled again 'belong to me,' he crossed the short distance toward them and playfully taped the magical wall with his staff.

'I told you two not to go wandering about without me!' he mockingly reprimanded, the twinkle in his eyes even more prominent now that he stood so close.

'You see this is all just an unfortunate misunderstanding,' he sighed heavily.

'But let's not dwell,' he shrugged. 'Let by gones be by gones, nobody has to get hurt, we'll just be on our way and we'll let you resume your journey to -' he paused and tilted his head to the side. 'King Stefan's kingdom, was it not?'

The Queen irritably narrowed her eyes.

'Do you take me for a fool, old man?' she thundered, her fear gone.

'There's no need to be rude, you know me by name, your majesty,' he teasingly added.

Despite Regina's decades long dislike for the wizard she now had a hard time concealing the slight amusement that bubbled up inside of her in response to the wizard's sassy behavior. For years she had imagined an intimidating old wizard, whom with his powerful white magic would have had no trouble defeating her with one swift motion of his powerful albescent staff.

The Queen seemed to consider this too, her patience all but gone now. Her eyes still wide and mad. Then as though she had come to some sort of conclusion she conjured an arrow out of thin air with a lazy flick of her hand.

'Let's make a deal,' she said, her voice low.

Merlin narrowed his eyes, the air around them crackling in anticipation.

'I don't make deals with Evil Queens,' he stated, more seriously now.

'Oh, I think you might want to take me up on this very specific deal.'

The wizard straightened and waited, the silence only broken by the nickering of horses and the quiet whispers of the black knights behind the Queen. They'd been attentively watching Merlin's movements from atop their horses, their bows and arrows continuously trained on the old man's figure.

'You can have one of them,' she pointed at Robin and Regina. 'And in return I will honor the agreement you so carelessly broke. If you refuse -' she paused and twisted the arrow between her thumb and index finger. 'I will start murdering Camelot's citizens,' her lips split into a smile, a mock imitation of the one that had adorned his face mere minutes ago.

Merlin's reaction was a bitter one. His bright eyes darkened and Regina felt the wind in the air pick up slightly in response to the notion of dying citizens. It was not an empty threat. Like Rumpelstiltskin she always made good on her promises.

'Unacceptable,' Merlin stated.

'Very well then,' she shrugged and started back to her carriage. Yet another one of her old tactics and especially this one had always led to victory.

'Wait!'

Merlin did not disappoint.

'Yes?' the Queen turned back and pouted, her eyes innocently wide and asking.

'One.' Merlin agreed.

'You cannot be serious!' Regina finally found her voice. Her breaths still coming in short and irregular wheezes.

'Think of the consequences!' she screamed. The wizard knew who they were, what could happen, she was sure of it, but he ignored her, his eyes fixed on the Evil Queen, regarding her with the same contempt everyone had regarded her with in those days.

'The thief,' the Queen simply stated, her eyes flashing back to Robin. Regina clamed her mouth shut, her blood boiling with anger and a sudden desire to knock some sense into her evil self.

Merlin nodded gravely.

Robin remained quiet, his hatred for the Queen gone, replaced with something else, a curious look Regina had no problems identifying, an opportunity had presented itself, they both knew it. He nodded slowly, more to himself than anyone else. Somehow this made sense to him, his actions had put him in an unusual position. He had captured the Queen's attention, though horror struck at first, she had questions now. Questions only the thief could answer. But she knew herself, knew the hate and anger that resided within this woman who stood but a few feet away from her. She was not ready for Robin.

Regina turned to him, every muscle, every fiber in her body pulsating with unconcealed dread.

'She will kill you,' she impressed upon him. 'I will kill you.'

He shook his head.

'I will find a way out,' he whispered. 'With Marian.'

The shield around them disappeared and she took a step backward.

Marian again.

This rational man, so blind whenever it came to his previously deceased wife. She looked to the side, tears pricking at her eyes.

'You are not as foolish as you look, old man.' The Evil Queen's voice pulled her attention back to the present and she shifted away from Robin. She could not watch him walk away from her. How willingly he went. She averted her eyes but then she couldn't, she couldn't let him go without him knowing. She reached out, pulled at his arm and roughly forced him back to face her. The surprise in his eyes palpable, but she ignored it. Crushed her lips to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers stroking the hair at the nap of his neck. He was unresponsive at first, confused and torn, but then he stopped thinking, allowed himself to feel, pulled her closer and responded with a passion she hadn't felt emanate from him in days. The desperation she felt matched by his and when he finally broke away from her he wore a look of fierce anger, regret and desire.

She glanced at the Queen, her response exactly what she had expected. She stood rooted to the spot and Regina could only imagine what it was like to observe such a bizarre scene. Watching herself – an imposter - kiss the man she was destined to be with.

She broke her stare, her expression turning to ice.

'Get in the carriage,' she seethed. 'Now!' and he moved forward, pulled away from her by force of magic and his own desire to save Marian. He didn't look back. Not once. And she wondered whether she would ever see him again.

'And you,' the Queen turned her eyes on Regina. 'If I ever see your face again, you won't live to tell it,' her attention shifted to Merlin. 'And I _will_ come for your citizens if that happens. Let that be a warning to the both of you.'

With those words she followed Robin inside the carriage. The riders urged the horses to turn back and the black knights followed behind. She watched them vanish out of sight, back in the direction of her castle.


	6. Chapter 5

**5.**

They reappeared in a cloud of white and grey smoke, but she didn't notice, didn't care for the small table, the four chairs surrounding it, the tiny kitchen counter and the small living area right behind her. She only had eyes for the wizard, whom without word or warning had pulled her from the forest with a crude turn of his staff the moment the carriage had disappeared out of sight.

'Do you have any idea what you have done?!' she all but roared.

The wizard silently regarded her for a few moments. His eyes scanning her frizzy hair, makeup-less face, plain dress and worn shoes before settling his eyes on hers again. He smiled then, his teeth a blinding white, not the mocking kind but one that spoke of approval.

'Tea?'

'Excuse me?'

Even though his smile had disappeared his eyes continued to shine with warm kindness, regarding her with the air of a host entertaining a new guest.

'I'm dying for a strong cup, would you like some?'

'Tea?' she repeated incredulous.

'Yes, didn't I just say that?' he screwed up his face in wonderment, then turned his back on her and reached for the kettle. For a moment, he lazily circled his hand above the kettle and water magically appeared inside then he turned back, a little fire serenely burned in the corner of the kitchen, a fireplace of old, and she watched him hook the kettle above it, allowing the flames to greedily lick the copper bottom rather than magically boiling the water himself.

'No,' she said, the anger in her voice morphing into confusion as she finally took the time to take in her surroundings. His house was small and round, all that the wizard owned - and he owned a lot - pressed into one tiny space, creating the illusion that the room was even smaller than it probably was if he only owned less. Piles of book lay scattered every few feet, an old couch and a block of wood that served – or so she assumed – as a home made coffee table, the kitchen even smaller than the living area and his bed nowhere to be seen.

'Have a seat,' he motioned to one of the chairs behind her.

'I prefer to stand,' she defiantly crossed her arms in front of her.

'Have a seat,' he repeated his voice a little sharper now.

'Why?' she demanded, though the question was laced with an undertone that spoke of more than just her child-like refusal to sit and his eyes lost a bit of their shine in response.

'I had no choice,'

'You had no choice?!' she roared. 'You're the most powerful wizard in all of the realms and you say you had no choice?!'

'It is not that easy, Regina,' the wizard sighed heavily.

'Your majesty,' she harshly corrected him. 'Explain to me how erecting a prison like-wall was easier than saving us from _myself_?' she spat. 'Or am I to believe that all of the stories about Merlin's greatness are all but delusional fables made up by the young and hopeful and that the great Merlin is in fact, no more than an old washed up wizard living in a dusty cottage with no one but books for company and in want of a _long_ overdue shave?'

His blinding smile returned.

'Interesting,' he said and turned back to the kettle. 'Your fierce temper didn't disappear with your evil ways when your heart thawed,' he paused, turned around again and carefully pondered his next few words.

'Truth be told, it seems that fate has other plans for Robin Hood. It whispered that I not interfere with what is meant to be. There's a lesson to be learned for him and I cannot ignore fates teachings of the ignorant. He was fated to go with the Queen. I could not change that.'

'Fate?' she retorted, her tone laced with sarcasm. 'Are you telling me that the little voices in your head told you not to interfere?' she mocked.

He ignored her, took the hot kettle from the fire and magically placed two cups on the table.

'I told you, I don't want your dusty old tea,'

'But you shall have it,' the wizard smiled, not taking no for an answer.

'We met once, you know?' she frowned. 'Before today I mean.'

He sat down and leisurely started pouring the water in one cup then the other.

'You were but a babe. You probably don't remember.'

She arched an eyebrow.

'I can't say I do.'

'No, no, of course you can't.'

He lifted a jar from the table beside him and unscrewed the lid.

'I clearly recall thinking you looked _quite_endearing.'

His hand paused inside the jar.

'If I'd known then,' he trailed and she dangerously narrowed her eyes at him. 'But of course nobody can look into the _future_.'

His eyes locked with hers, held her in place for a moment, but broke away when he withdrew his hand from the jar along with some herbs, he casually dropped them in the cups.

'Tea is served!' he exclaimed. 'I do wish you'd sit down.' He motioned to the chair once more.

She did this time, her curiosity stronger than her anger and she took a seat opposite the wizard. He pushed the cup toward her and she accepted it, her hands cradling it on the table, warming her cold skin. She hadn't realized how cold she was until then.

'How did you figure it out?' she asked, alluding to the obvious.

'That you're from the future?' he affirmed.

She nodded.

'I didn't at first,' he fell silent, his eyes scrutinizing her face once more. 'I followed you, watched you argue with one another, wondered why you looked the way you did when you first caught my attention. It took me a moment to figure out who you were but when I did,' He took a sip from his tea and left the thought unfinished. 'I was witness to the most curious thing last night.'

'Last night?' was he alluding to the conversation about Robin's wife?

'Yes,' he said. 'You see, everything about you was wrong. The way you behaved, the expressions you sent the archer's way and the power that emanated from you. I had never met the Evil Queen but I had heard the stories and my own magic had exposed you to me on one or two occasions.' he screwed up his face in obvious distaste before continuing.

'I'm sure you're unaware that as you slept last night the archer watched you.' Regina swallowed. Of course she hadn't been aware and the revelation surprised her. Robin had watched her?

'He looked deeply conflicted.' Merlin continued. 'But then despite his obvious anger and the deep seethed resentment he displayed earlier that day, he kissed you,' the wizard pointed at her lips. 'Right there -,' he paused, his eyes as bright as that of a naughty child. 'And for a split second the forest was ablaze with light and that's when I knew.'

'You knew what?' her heart pounded in her chest, a glimmer of uninhibited hope settled inside her.

'That you're not from this time and place, of course.'

'I'm confused.' She shook her head. How could a light inducing peck on the lips lead to the type of certainty that they were not from and never were supposed to be part of this time period. The wizard's logic seemed flawed.

'You're soulmates,' Merlin simply stated. Regina looked down. She'd been trying to forget that. 'But for such intense power to light up an entire forest both of you need to be receptive and open to the possibilities. I think we can safely assume that the Evil Queen in her current state is not receptive of such love, even if she wanted to.'

She nodded, that was true. She still feared what the Queen would do to Robin. The tattoo gave her pause, but in all honesty she didn't hold out much hope for a happy ending. She had mastered the skill to destroy her own happy endings intentionally as well as unintentionally. Her current situation a perfect example.

'Furthermore, your meeting with the Queen today banished any and all doubts I still had and it explained the power that drew me to you in the first place. The only reason why I tailed you for as long as I did.' He smiled warmly, then took one last sip of his tea and put the cup down with such playfulness it reminded her of a proud child who'd figured out a complicated dilemma that had been tormenting him for days.

'Our soulmate connection?' she repeated incredulous. It could not be that strong.

'No, no,' he shook his head and waved his hand impatiently, his smile brighter than ever. 'The child.' He nodded in her direction, all-knowing and smug.

'Child?' she frowned. 'What child?'

'Why, your child, of course!'

She felt the blood drain from her face and an immediate nausea settled in the pit of her stomach.

'Well surely you know,' the wizard said, confused by her reaction. 'You're aware your magic has turned itself inward.'

Panic consumed her then, warm tea spilled over her hands, she roughly pulled them back, her hands visibly shaking and the cup toppled from the table, its dark contents quickly spreading across the ground below. She swiftly stood, the force of her body knocking the chair to the ground behind her. She shook her head. It couldn't be true. It had only been two days since Robin and – no. It was impossible. She couldn't even have children. That's why she'd adopted Henry in the first place and had rejected the notion of vitro fertilization treatments during her years in Storybrooke. She had cursed her womb long ago, an action she regretted deeply but had been a necessary evil at the time.

'That's not true,' she continued shaking her head.

'To be honest, I was surprised myself.' Merlin smiled, his attempt at reassurance failing before he'd even tried. 'Soulmates rarely find on another and when they do their children are never a combination of good and evil.'

She shook her head again.

'You don't understand,'

But the wizard ignored her and continued unabashed.

The child you carry, Regina, it's the most powerful child this realm has ever seen. The combined forces of good and evil made possible through your soulmate connection,' he trailed his exterior bubbling with excitement. 'It's unheard of!' he exclaimed.

She looked down her eyes and hands on her stomach, and she anxiously pondered the implications of an actual pregnancy. Robin's child. It simply couldn't be true. She had heard of soulmate babies. Had even met one. Emma, was the product of the purest love she had ever been witness to, the most resilient and powerful kind. That wasn't her and Robin. They were broken and Marian's current existence had ensured they were no longer fated to be with each other. She rubbed her hands over her face and cupped them around her nose and mouth. Even if she accepted the possibility of her being pregnant how was she supposed to accept the situation?


	7. Chapter 6

**6.**

It was said that her walk was as poisonous as the famed apples that grew on the tree in the castle's courtyard. They whispered that if you were unfortunate enough to look upon her face a mere glance would instantly summon death to your side. Her smile, they claimed, even more dangerous, could bring about terrible torturous diseases. And if by chance your ears would find themselves imprisoned by the sound of her evil laughter you would already be beyond saving, for the ear-splitting noise assaulting your senses would freeze you in place and you'd find yourself a statue, aware but in a hell-like limbo. She would place you in her garden, among the many other masonic figures that went before you and like them you'd become one with nature. While over time life would find you again, birds and insects feasting on the little plants and moss that's gathered on your head, your mouth, your arms, your ears consuming you, by then you'll have stopped caring and you will have accepted that you're doomed to spend eternity trapped in a state that's worse than death.

Those had been the old wives tales of long ago. Stories that only applied to the past, to the one who stood before him. But even now while Robin regarded her masked expression with his own mixed feelings he could not convince his heart that this woman was the same woman of the tales that deprived children of their peaceful slumbers at night. Robin had come to know Regina as neither poisonous nor deathly and though he knew whom she was and had been in the past, he had never fallen victim to the anger that ragged inside of her past self, the anger that in others conjured an all consuming, crippling fear. Try as he may, and oh how he had tried, he did not see an Evil Queen. What he saw, even now, was a woman. A beautiful broken woman, who was desperately trying to keep everything and everyone around her at arms length. He was angry with this woman, had convinced himself that, even though he did not fear her, he hated her, he hated her for what he had seen her do and what he believed she was about to do to his wife.

'You are nothing but a lying thief,' she spat.

He didn't appose her words only shot her a venomous look and struggled against the shackles that held him in place. Upon arrival she had ordered her guards to take him to a circular tower room, empty but for the chains that forced his feet and arms against the wall.

'And I'm sure the Sheriff of Nottingham will be very pleased to finally see you again.'

He stopped his futile struggling and looked at her.

'Oh, I think we both know that's not why you captured me.'

She narrowed her eyes at him and took a step closer, one of her hands landing on his sleeved wrist. She pulled it down, exposing the lion tattoo, but where before she had recoiled at the sight of it, there lay a growing conflict in her eyes now.

'Tell me,' she demanded.

'Tell you what?' he countered.

'Everything.'

'I haven't a clue what you're referring to.'

She rolled her eyes and turned her palm and in response the shackles around his wrists tightened. He winced against the pain that shot through his arms but bit down on his lips denying her the pleasure of his otherwise loud torturous cry. He would not break in front of her, not now, not ever.

'We can do this the easy way,' she released her hold on his shackles. 'Or the hard way. The choice is yours.'

He clenched his jaw, his determination fueled by his hatred for her.

'Very well,' she stepped even closer. 'As you wish.'

Before he knew what was happening she trusted her arm forward, her hand landing deeply inside his chest and then she pulled out his bright red beating heart. The pain was excruciating and only after his eyes latched onto his heart in her hand did he realize that the loud scream that had rent the air and bounced off of the walls had been his.

She smiled, a wicked smile that he had never seen grace her lips before but reminded him of the Wicked Witch and even in his pain-induced state he noted the resemblance between them. In their evil, wicked mannerisms there was no denying that Regina and Zelena were sisters.

'What are you doing?' he panted, unprepared for what was to come. 'I can assure you there are other ways to win over a man's heart,' he paused and gulped at the air. 'Ripping them out, however, is not the way,' he blinked against the bitter pain, the hole in his chest already numbing his feelings. He'd once asked her what life without a heart was like, but now it turned out that he needn't have asked.

She ignored his words. Examined his heart. Mesmerized she turned it back and forth in her palm and against his expectations she did not crush it.

'So pure,' a whisper on her breath. She looked up, an expression of triumph on her face.

'How much do you know about human hearts, thief?'

'Enough to know that that one belongs inside my chest,' he spat.

She let out a laugh, a low, slow dark laugh that didn't quite reach her eyes, then she lifted his heart to her mouth and she softly whispered words he could not hear but to his horror sprung from his own lips instead.

'Hearts control people,' he heard himself say.

'No,' he shook his head. He had been prepared to die, he had expected to die, he'd expected anything other than this.

'Yes,' her lips split apart. She briefly squeezed his heart to drive her point home and he cringed inward, only to find himself hindered by the shackles that pulled him back in place.

'You're lucky I prefer this method to torture. Torture is such a messy affair, don't you think?' she looked at him expectantly, daring him to speak, but he remained quiet, the vicious anger in his eyes answering for him instead.

'Such an unnecessary evil that ruined some of my favorite dresses in the past,' she pouted.

'No, of course not' he shook his head in mock response. 'We really can't have my tortured blood and sweat ruin the Queen's perfectly tailored dress.'

She smiled.

'You're quite the cheeky one aren't you?'

'If my Queen says so,' he replied with such venom it made her eyes glow with renewed fury.

'Only the foolish don't fear me,' she dangerously whispered.

'Then I must seem _very_ foolish to you, _Regina_.'

Her name, not a frequent word from a commoner's lips to her ears. The conflict in her eyes returned and they flickered back to his wrist, only a flicker then she turned her attention back on his heart again. Ignoring her feelings, ignoring the connection, a million questions on her mind.

'Who told you about the significance of your tattoo? Was it that pesky little fairy? Are you planning something together?' she whispered into his heart.

A strange sensation consumed him, different from the one he had experienced before, it seemed as though a thousand tiny hands probbed his mind, shifted through memories and thoughts, searching and stringing words together that captured the truth. Of their own accord his lips moved and his vocal chords produced sounds not chosen by him but forced upon him by his heart, for his heart was ordered to look for nothing but the truth.

'I'm not planning anything with Tinkerbell and it wasn't her, it was you. You told me about the tattoo.' he heard his voice say.

She stilled, her eyes wide.

'I think I'd remember telling you, you're my-,' she trailed

'Impossible!' she boomed and furiously started pacing the floor.

'Who was that imposter you were travelling with?'

Again his lips moved and his voice produced the sounds and truth he did not wish to reveal but had no other choice, try as he might he could not fight his heart's wishes.

'You,'

'That woman was _not_ me!' she instantly replied and shook her head. She took a step closer, her hand reflexively tightening around his heart and he screwed his eyes shut against the pain that once again ripped through his chest. Of course she didn't believe him. He would have been just as reluctant to believe the truth himself.

'Stop squeezing my heart,' he fumed through gritted teeth.

She pulled back, her frustration palpable.

'This can't be true, you are lying,' she all but yelled with her back to him.

'Can I really?'

She turned to face him again.

'Where are you from?'

'Storybrooke,' was his instant reply.

She frowned.

'Where is this Storybrooke?'

'In another realm, in a land without magic.'

Her eyes widened and he knew she was catching on, that she had recognized a semantic correspondence between _a realm without magic_ and the curse she had yet to cast. He saw her eyes shimmer with a type of fear he had not yet seen upon the Queen's face and for a moment he forgot his anger as he intently watched her wrestle with her next words.

'_When_ are you from?' she whispered into his heart.

He struggled against the force in his head that pushed and strung those words together he did not want to say. But he was but a one-man army fighting a battle against thousands of little soldiers inside his skull. The harder he resisted the stronger the ache in his head grew and finally when the pain became blinding and the will to fight ambiguous, the words spluttered from his mouth.

'The future,' he said. 'I'm from the future.'


	8. Chapter 7

**7.**

'The future,' she repeated and arched one perfectly manicured eyebrow.

'You expect me to believe the impossible?'

'I can only expect m'lady to believe the truth,' he said, a sense of defeat diffusing inside of him.

She threw her head back and a shrill sound that cut through the relative silence tore from her lips. It buried itself in his skull like a thousand tiny daggers and in that moment, as Robin fell witness to the false glee that spread across her features, he found that he did not hate her so much as that he pitied the broken woman in front of him.

'And I suppose I'm also to believe the preposterous presupposition that a Queen and a thief travel back in time together to do what?' she inched closer to him, her exhales cutting across his skin. 'Escape on a romantic getaway to reminisce? Was the present too mundane for you?' she pouted.

He snorted but did not rise to her bait and her eyes hardened, his insolent behavior not doing him any favors. She abruptly stepped away from him.

'Tell me the truth!' she demanded again and her hand closed tighter around his heart, tighter even than before. He bit down on his lip, breaking skin. The stale taste of blood that pooled in his mouth; the only outward indication of the inward pain that ripped through his chest.

'If you are truly from the future,' she whispered into his heart. 'Prove it.'

A different sensation from the one he had experienced before flit through his mind, her whispered demand latching onto words and memories, seeking for truth in an altered state. It wasn't so much the words that strung the facts together as it was the knowledge he possessed that could provide irrefutable evidence that what he said was only that which she could know.

'You have an apple tree that you have tended to since you were a little girl,' the words sprung from his lips one after another, the magic that invaded his memories speaking for him. All that she had told him, the moments and memories they'd shared lay uncovered and exposed before them.

'Your mother Cora was a Miller's daughter, your father, Prince Henry the son of King Xavier. You spent most of your childhood horseback riding and you loved the smell of the stables, which to this day reminds you of home and of Daniel, the stable boy you once loved,' she balled her hands into fists at the mention of Daniel, her expression poisonous, but calm, too calm.

'You blame yourself for his death.'

'Silence!' she closed her eyes, her jaw set and the vein on her forehead thicker than he'd ever seen it before.

'Snow White is to be blamed for Daniel's death!'

She swallowed and re-opened her eyes. Through the haze of her anger he saw the anguish just beneath the surface; her soul, deeply hidden from the world, but so plain for him to see.

'Rumpelstiltskin would not have send you unprepared. My past may not be common knowledge among the peasants in my kingdom but there are enough people who could have told you about me.'

'I am not working for the Dark One!' Robin yelled, and pulled at his shackles, his patience gone.

'You want proof, Regina?' his dark tone matching hers. 'Then stop acting like a bloody blind fool.'

Her eyes flashed with a white-hot anger and she struck out. Her flat hand hit him across the cheek with such venom he was sure she'd drawn blood.

'You insolent thief! Just wait until I'm done with you! You won't be so smug then, you will be begging for mercy.'

And still, after all the torture and abuse she'd thrown his way, he did not fear her death glare or hollow threats. For as much as she was evil, he knew there was more good inside of her that continuously struggled with the darkness. He could see her, hidden from the world, a small voice silenced by the evil that imprisoned her. The evil that had her convinced that happiness could only be achieved through the suffering of others and that love was for the weak.

Yet, though she denied it, love was exactly that what made her strong.

'Oh just stop it, Regina,' he threw back. 'Stop acting as though you don't feel it,' he seethed through gritted teeth. 'You can deny it all you want, but that woman you met in the forest, the one you believe to be an impersonator, she will be you some day. And once she let go of the darkness that was holding her back she turned into the most beautiful woman I ever met.'

He closed his eyes against the dread that pooled in his stomach. No matter how hard he had tried to deny it over the past couple of days, no matter how much knowing that she had hurt his Marian angered him, he still couldn't help but want her. And it plagued him. The guilt was overwhelming. He had no choice, he was but a slave to his feelings and torn between his loyalties to Marian and all that he wanted. He wanted to save the woman he had loved for so many years, return to her, yet…

'And even though she gets under my skin, shuts out the entire world when she is hurt and drives me to the point of insanity, I still can't help but _love_ her.'

He opened his eyes and there she was, pushing through the darkness, shining through, the Regina he had come to know twining with his soul, recognizing him for what he was.

'I love you,' he whispered.

And he did.

She remained frozen; her eyes glistening with unshed tears and he smiled against his better judgment, he smiled because of the irony of it all. Somewhere out there was another Robin, his past self, rocking his baby boy, grieving his Marian, oblivious to the fact that the Evil Queen would one day become his second chance.

'And I think that the only reason you haven't crushed my heart, yet, is because you wonder if, deep down Tinkerbell was right, and you can love me too.'

'Stop,' she demanded with closed eyes, fighting the tears that threatened to spill but she failed and he saw one lonesome tear slip from her lid, down her right check. She whipped it away and swallowed.

'My heart is dark and unlovable,' she lowly whispered and when she re-opened her eyes Regina was gone, the Evil Queen back in her rightful place.

She roughly moved forward, pushed his heart back into his chest and he let out a low whimper in response.

'Guards!' she boomed.

And as if on cue they stumbled through the door, three of them. Their clumsiness born out of the fear that shone in their eyes when they looked at her. But they never gazed at her directly, to the side and just beyond. After all none of them wanted to fall victim to her disease summoning cursed eyes.

'Take him to the dungeons,' she demanded.

She gave him one last look, her eyes full of sorrow, regret and longing, then without heat or warning she turned away and left.

The guards were rough with him. They pushed at his back, forced him forward and it was hard to walk with the shackles around his ankles and wrists. He stumbled and nearly fell a few times before they reached the dungeon. Without care or concern they released him from his bounds and pushed him into a lonesome cell, he fell to his knees, heard the lock click behind him and their footsteps fading down the hall.

'Robin?!'

An exasperated voice breathed next to him.

He looked up, his heart fluttering at the sound, he would recognize that voice anywhere. And there in the cell next to him he saw her. After all these years, vibrating with the life he believed had died long ago; his Marian.


	9. Chapter 8

**8.**

'Marian!'

He scrambled to his feet and rushed forward. And for the life of him he watched her do the same, mirroring his motions, the disbelief in her eyes an exact reflection of his own. His arms pushed through the wooden bars and wrapped around her frame, their foreheads touching, and it just wasn't enough. He needed her closer, in his arms, but the wood unyielding, forced him to accept that for the moment he still couldn't fully be with her the way he wished and that these slight touches would have to do. And though not entirely satisfied with what fate allowed for him to have, it was still more of her than he'd touched or looked upon in years. Her smell, her inhales and exhales, the feel of her warm skin beneath his fingertips; alive. His Marian was alive.

'Robin, is it truly you, my love?' her voice quivered and her fingers laced themselves through his hair, touching him, _really_ touching him, it was not a dream. And he couldn't help himself, tears of joy, of pain, a combination of heartache and happiness flowed freely from his eyes and he didn't care. He had her back and never would there be anything or anyone who would ever take her from him again.

'I lost you,' his voice a broken whisper.

'And I you,' she said, her breath colliding with his face.

He lifted his head from hers. Her deep brown eyes regarding his tear stained face with such gratitude and she was exactly as he remembered her. Not a day older or younger; as beautiful in memory as in real life.

'You're hurt, my love,' she touched his cheek and blood came away on her fingers.

'Did she do this to you? The Evil Queen?'

He shook his head; it didn't matter.

'It will heal,' he kissed her forehead, her lips and it was unlike anything he could have hoped for. How lucky he felt to have her, no cut or bruise could distract him from the happiness and his overexcited heart that threatened to burst from his chest.

'What happened?' he asked. 'How is this possible?'

He touched her hair, stroked her brows and finally cupped her face in his palms.

He had so many questions; so much that remained unclear. When he'd first laid eyes on her in the woods with Regina, the Evil Queen taunting her relentlessly, he hadn't cared for the questions that had dropped from the sky like snow on a summer's day, because she was alive and how or why didn't matter, not then. But now that he finally held her in his arms, her breaths so real and her eyes vibrating with life, his relief made way for that pressing need to know why or how, and it latched on, pushed to the front and forced him to question her existence.

'You died, I watched you die, Marian,' he choked.

She shook her head.

'Oh Robin, how did you get captured?' her hand came up to stroke his cheek, the concern in her eyes unmistakable. 'What of Roland? Where is our son?'

'Roland is safe,' he reassured. Safe at the camp with his past self, but she needn't know the truth now, all in good time.

'How are you still alive?' he questioned again.

'She saved me,' a smile formed on her lips. 'Princess Snow White, she saved me.'

Robin frowned

'But you died, I saw you die,' he repeated his mantra, shaking his head in furious denial.

'When we returned they'd burned the bodies. I saw them, I saw what was left of your cloak.'

'No, love, I wasn't among them. Princess Snow White pulled me from the fire and she healed me with this-'

Marian reached inside her dress and from between her breasts she pulled out a lean brown stick that held the outward appearance of a fragile forlorn branch, but looks deceived and Robin knew exactly what it was, it was far more powerful than a tree discarded twig. He recognized it. He'd stolen it from the Dark One himself and Marian had carried it ever since.

'The wand.'

She nodded.

'I was barely conscious when she found me but she recognized the wand and knew exactly how to use it.' Marian's eyes shone with awe. 'She is incredible, Robin. Unlike any of the stories that the Evil Queen has been spreading around the kingdom. She risked her life for me, she is kind and selfless and... She wouldn't hurt a soul. She is nothing like that monster wants us to believe.'

Robin regarded her for a moment. The expression in his wife's eyes so full of admiration it almost made him forget.

'Then why, when you were healed, didn't you return?'

Marian's eyes shifted back to his. Regret appeared in its depths, but there was something else overshadowing that guilt, a resilient determination to honor what they stood for, and it all fell into place.

'I would have died without her help, Robin,' she softly caressed his wounded cheek. 'I owed her.'

It was the code they lived by; honor before self-preservation. If by chance, their life was saved by another, there was a debt to be paid. He understood this more than anyone. Once, not a year ago, he had been bound by that same code of ethics, indebted to the Queen for saving his son.

'You of all people know that it was the honorable thing to do and if I'd returned then,' she hesitated. 'I knew you would have sacrificed yourself for Roland's sake and I couldn't let you,' tears slipped from her eyes. 'Roland _needs_ you,' she emphasized and squeezed his shoulder. 'I could wish for no better father in all of the seven kingdoms. You must understand that the risk was too great and I did not want you to make that choice for me, it was mine to make.'

'And what of his mother?' Robin retorted, his own emotions scrambled by her heartfelt confession. 'Is he supposed to live without ever knowing how great his mother is when this all goes awry?'

'When?' she frowned and he mentally cursed himself for the slip up. He had first hand knowledge of what had happened. She may not have died the way he had always believed she had, but fact remained that she had also never returned. Whatever she had done to help Snow White she _had_ died.

'You have much faith in me, husband,' she mocked, but there was no venom in her words, only humor. 'I don't plan on dying, Robin. Princess Snow White and I have come up with a way to get her her kingdom back and me getting captured was part of that plan, and when the Evil Queen comes for me the wand will do the rest,' she fell silent then and took in a sharp breath. 'But you shouldn't be here,' she abruptly pulled away.

'I never anticipated for you to be here.'

'You planned this? The wand? Marian -' he began, but she started pacing up and down her cell, too consumed by her own conflicted thoughts.

'Maybe…' she looked up at him and grabbed his hand. 'We have to do this together now.'

'What are you talking about?'

'Don't you see? We need to defeat the Evil Queen together.'

Robin stared at her.

'You want to kill, Regina?' he said, surprised and horrified by her ambitious plans to defeat a woman who could bend magic to her will and channel it in ways he had seen few people do in his lifetime.

Marian frowned and shook her head, his response not the kind she had been expecting.

'Regina?'

'The Queen,' he hesitated, he wasn't supposed to know her name, not for another couple of decades. 'Her name is Regina.'

The confusion in Marian's eyes intensified.

'What does it matter what her name is?' she retorted. 'The Evil Queen needs to be punished for all that she has done to Snow White and all the people she tortured and killed!' her hand fell away from his, the passion in her eyes flaring with an intensity he had only ever witnessed on occasions he'd rather not remember.

'I'm to be executed in the morning, Robin!'

He dropped his eyes from her, that heavy weight that had lifted from his shoulders at the sight of his breathing, living wife, returning full force, nearly knocking him to his knees.

'I know.'

'You know?!'

'It's complicated,' and it was. He rubbed a hand over his face and heavily leaned his head against the bars. How was he supposed to explain to his wife that she had already died? That she had been dead for years and had been killed by the one he loved now.

Back in Storybrooke, Regina had told him about the people she had executed, that that had been the punishment for aiding Snow White in the past. She'd looked at him with an expression that told him she expected him to flee the other way and when he hadn't she had asked him how he could ever truly believe that she was his second chance. All he'd done that day was reassure her with passion-filled actions instead of words. It was her past, he'd told himself, and everyone made mistakes. Sure her mistakes were a little darker and deeper than most, but those mistakes did not define her, not really. Not until he discovered whom else had fallen victim to her rage.

'Why are you defending the Evil Queen?'

'I'm not defending the Queen.'

'Well, you're certainly not keen on the idea either and since when is she just the Queen to you? We've talked about her reign of terror endlessly in the past, you seemed just as eager as me to step in and do the right thing.'

'Eager?' he asked. 'Eager to kill a human being?'

'I never said I wanted to kill her!' Marian raised her voice. 'Our plan is to incapacitate her or imprison her with the wand's magic. Princess Snow White is the person who should decide what fate is to befall her evil stepmother,' her eyes spit fire. 'I don't think lightly of taken another's life, Robin. You should know me better than that.'

He did know her better. He turned to face her, she was right, that wasn't her. He had forgotten that that was a trait she did not share with Regina. No matter how much Marian reminded him of her, in the end she was her own person, with her own individual traits, traits he used to love and cherish.

'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have implied that you think lightly of killing another, I know you don't.'

She half-heartedly nodded and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

'I just don't think it's a good idea. We shouldn't meddle with other people's affairs, especially not royals. We're thieves, not soldiers, Marian. You can't expect to single handedly defeat the single most powerful person in this realm.'

Marian narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head.

'I don't believe this. What did she do to you? Did she threaten you?' she inhaled sharply and rushed forward. 'Did she get to Roland?'

Her hands curled around the bars and her eyes stood wild with fear.

'No, no,' he shook his head and covered his hands with hers. 'I told you, Roland is safe.'

'Then I don't understand. What then?'

What then? It was a good question. If she'd asked him what it was a couple of days ago he might have been able to answer her. Now he wasn't so sure himself anymore.

'She just isn't who you think she is.'

Marian let out a loud snort and shot him an incredulous look.

'And you know this how?'

'I spent some time with her.'

Her eyebrows shot up so impossibly high they almost disappeared underneath her hairline.

'I can see that,' her eyes travelled to the cut on his cheek.

'What a pleasant conversation that must have been.'

'It's complicated,' he retorted.

'You keep saying that but I don't know what that means, Robin.'

'It doesn't matter,' he curled his hands around hers, his eyes boring into her eyes. 'I found you and let's just get out of here right now. Use that wand to pry open the lock and let's forget this all happened. Come home with me, Marian, please,' he begged. And though he didn't know what home meant anymore, he still considered any other place better than the Queen's dungeon.

'No,' she shook her head. 'If you want to leave, go. I have to see this through, I promised Princess Snow White I would help her and I don't break promises.'

And she didn't. She never did. She was as damn honorable as him and for once he hated it. Resented her for being such a pure soul. So similar to his and yet so different at the same time.

'I'm not leaving you,' he never would again. 'We'll see this through together.'

She instantly relaxed, a smile appeared on her face, her anger gone as soon as it had appeared. And though he would help her, protect her, he still had no idea how she was ever going to survive an encounter with the Queen. She had but a wand and no experience wielding magic, while the Queen had years of training and bitter resentment on her side. And then there was the case of his own feelings for both Marian and Regina. He would rather die than watch either of these two women harm the other.

* * *

Like all wizards and other magical folk alike, Merlin possessed an infinite amount of supplies and objects. From formaldehyde bottled animals, to books, wands, hats, knives, herbs, and many such trinkets. But unlike other magical folk Merlin scarcely seemed to care for his possessions. All of these objects and more lay unsystematically scattered around his tiny circular living room area, with the sole purpose, it seemed, of gathering as much dust as the room could hold. There appeared to be no structure, no logic in the way he had filled away his precious little items, not anything at all like Regina's vault, where in her days she had handled her own magical properties with a twisted kind of love she could only feel for lifeless objects then. In short, Merlin's house was a complete and utter whirlwind disaster, and therefore, as the wizard moved around the confined space, it had surprised Regina, that while she had watched him she had found logic behind the precision with which he'd stepped over a pile of books, scrutinized a shelf and then turned around only to replace a jar that looked to belong on a different shelf. Organized chaos, he'd called it when he'd caught her expression. She'd arched a skeptical eyebrow, shrugged and told him he was in _dire_ need of a lady friend.

He'd made a rather sassy observation about her own anatomy and the fact that he considered her to be a friend, but before she could reply a sharp pain had shot through her upper body and continued to do so.

'What's happening?' her heart beat unmistakably fast, the pain in her chest so severe she was sure it would ripe her open from the inside out.

The wizard was at her side in an instant, guiding her back to the kitchen and forced her to sit, but she hardly noticed. She took in a couple of deep breaths and for a moment it seemed as though that helped and the pain dissipated, but it didn't stick and seconds later it returned just as fast, more excruciating this time.

'Is it the baby?' her eyes searched his, demanding he answer her, because she didn't know and not knowing wasn't something Regina was used to or comfortable with.

'In a way,' Merlin nodded, real concern shining through his otherwise always chipper exterior. 'I'm not quite familiar with soulmate babies and their natural development, but a young witch once told me a tale of a connection that is forged between the mother and the father at the moment of conception and only when the father is in fatal danger during the pregnancy of the mother, she feels it.'

She opened her mouth, a sharp remark on her lips but once more another wave of pain ripped through her chest and she cringed inward. Her heart. The Queen was crushing Robin's heart, she was sure of it.

'Do you have a crystal ball?' she asked him, already knowing the answer, before he ever opened his mouth. Of course he had one.

'Yes!' he replied, his voice chipper once more. 'Of course!'

He jumped up from his chair and disappeared behind a diagonally placed bookcase that was so awkwardly sited in the middle of the living room it only added to the disarray of the place. She closed eyes, her attention focused on the pain that now slowly ebbed from her chest. Maybe she had done it, maybe he was already dead.

'Here it is,' Merlin's voice pulled her back and her eyes immediately latched on to the ball on the table, already brought to live by the wizard's touch.

'Show him to me,' she said. Fear unlike any, tightened around her heart, more painful than the physical torture she had just endured.

Merlin nodded gravely, hesitating for only a moment, but then he swept his hand over the ball and through the misty foam his face appeared and she heaved a sigh of relief. Guards pulled at his arms, forced him forward. He stumbled a few times but other than his obvious physical discomfort he was still alive. She hadn't killed him. Whatever conversation had transpired between Robin and the Queen it had probably saved his life. Whatever did he tell her? But she couldn't ponder that question for long because what happened next pulled her attention right back.

Right back to Robin and his wife.


	10. Chapter 9

**9.**

Her breath hitched in her throat and if it weren't for the cold numbness encompassing her whole, she would not have been able to watch the scene inside the crystal ball for longer than a few seconds. But as things were she remained seated and with an icy detachment that imprisoned her brain and refroze her heart in places that had only recently started to thaw, she forced her eyes and mind to acknowledge the inevitable, and then continued to watch the inevitable play itself out in front of her.

His hands grabbed her shoulders, his arms pulled her closer, their kisses frantic, passionate, broken, and he cried for her. Tears of joy, tears of relief, tears of sorrow for the years he had lost. He pressed his body against the bars, his frustration that he still could not hold her on his terms, be with her the way he wanted, palpable.

And then - quite unexpectedly - it struck Regina how these crystal balls were actually rather miraculous little things, so convenient in that they enabled a third party to spy on others unawares like this. Such a fine magical object; so extraordinary; so amazing;

So –_cruel_.

Not always did they show what was wanted, and never did they care if what was seen spliced hearts in two nor made souls weep for moments that would never be. _No_ – objects like these only busied themselves with facts and truths, and it were precisely these facts and truths that now forced her to witness a man's bittersweet reunion with his once dead wife. Robin and Marian, blind to their surroundings, reunited in her dungeon in a moment that could only be defined as a magical miracle.

She grit her teeth, her eyes stuck on the emotions that emanated from his. She couldn't remember him ever looking at her that way. Had he? Had he _really_? Had he once stroked her hair the way he stroked Marian's? Had he kissed her with the same intense passion with which he kissed his wife? Had he looked at Regina as though nothing or no one else mattered in all of the realms of the past, present or future?

She dug her nails into her palms, willing the numbness to stay. It _had_ to stay.

But her heart clenched painfully inside her chest, ignoring her pleas, and it was hard, so hard to pretend that this did not affect her.

'Regina, this doesn't –.' Merlin began, but she shook her head and held up a trembling hand. She needed to see this.

She _wanted_ to see this.

And so she watched them interact. Emotions flowed freely between the reunited pair. They touched, hugged, and caressed each other, again and again, crippling her soul, until;

_'Princess Snow White and I have come up with a way to get her her kingdom back and me getting captured was part of that plan, and when the Evil Queen comes for me the wand will do the rest.'_

She gaped at the ball, at Marian. A type of anger she hadn't felt in a long time ignited itself like a wildfire, spreading to her extremities. Marian had let herself be captured? She had planned on killing the Evil Queen with Snow White? But then if she had failed in the past, how did Regina not remember? Nothing made sense, never had she seen that wand. She wracked her brain, Robin and Marian's conversation momentarily fading to the background as she forced herself to think back. Nothing. There was nothing, but for a gap in time where Marian should have been.

_'What does it matter what her name is? The Evil Queen needs to be punished for all that she has done to Snow White and all the people she tortured and killed! I'm to be executed in the morning, Robin!'_Marian exclaimed with fierce intensity that snapped Regina's attention back to the ball.

Robin seemed torn, his responses evasive at best. He wanted to explain everything, she could tell. The way he wrung his hands together a sign of his irresoluteness. What held him back, she supposed, was the fact that their story was so incredibly unbelievable; he would never be able to convince Marian of its validity without irrefutable evidence.

_'Why are you defending the Evil Queen?'_

_'I'm not defending the Queen!'_

She swallowed hard; his voice harsh, defensive, his eyes hard and defiant. How could his wife assume that he'd ever support the Evil Queen's actions? If Regina had had any doubts about executing Robin's wife, the woman had just crushed her last shred of hope; for Maid Marian was to be executed in the morning. She rubbed one hand over her face, Robin had been right to shun her, to shut her out and despise her. She had been responsible, was going to be responsible again.

'_But she brought it upon herself'_ a small voice inside her whispered. And she had. Marian had been in league with Snow White and even though Regina had already assumed as much, her intended imprisonment added an extra layer of unforeseeable conflict to an already tricky situation.

_And also_,that same small voice murmured, _Robin saved you from the Evil Queen, he even sacrificed himself for you_. Didn't that mean something? Couldn't she assume that part of him, no matter how small a part, still cared for her?

_'Well, you're certainly not keen on the idea either and since when is she just the Queen to you?'_

The conversation took an unexpected turn for the worse, a heated quarrel erupted between the two lovers; Robin's reluctance to imprison the Evil Queen becoming more apparent with each new argument Marian put forward, her own anger tangible in return. And for a moment hope reinstated itself inside of Regina; just a flicker.

_'No! If you want to leave, then go! I have to see this through, I promised Princess Snow White that I would help her and I don't break promises.'_

_'I'm not leaving you! We'll see this through together.'_

And there the flicker died, stopped her cold.

A surge of uninhibited fury coursed through her body and it was enough. She couldn't watch them any longer. The betrayal too abrupt, it slashed through her like a blunt knife. _They would see it through together?!_ They would capture the Evil Queen together and do what? Taunt her? Murder her? Did he at all care about the timeline anymore?

The anger inside of her piqued, black rage blinding her, consuming the pain and she liked it, preferred it that way. It was her friend.

She lifted the crystal ball from the table and with a loud agonizing cry she flung it across the room. It crashed into a wall on the opposite side and shattered into a thousand earsplitting pieces, glass flying in every direction; smoke slowly vaporizing into nothingness.

She turned to Merlin, every bone in her body teetering with candid rage, but the wizard merely regarded her outburst with a type of calmness that only served to fuel her anger more. Her eyes landed on the teacup in front of him, she reached for it and as if to coax a reaction from him she flung it at another wall. Like the ball that went before it, it shattered into a million pieces. But Merlin remained unmoved.

'That filthy outlaw!' She cried and stepped across the room to the diagonally situated bookcase.

'All those lies!' she grabbed book after book, flung a few across the room, then dropped the others when her eyes fell on her next target; the formaldehyde bottled animals. Their lifeless eyes, almost expectantly, staring at her, daring her. She grabbed a bottle and with all the strength she could muster smashed it to the ground between her feet. Liquid spread across the floor, glass glistened and shot across the room, gashing her flesh, the animal inside slick and limp on the floor. She scarcely noticed the blood that dripped down her arm as another bottle followed, then another.

'You forgot one.' Merlin's serene voice cut through her raged thoughts.

She whirled around. The wizard's calmness ever present while he helpfully pointed at a bottle she'd overlooked situated on a shelf next to her.

She snatched it up, briefly glanced at it and was about to fling it at the wizard himself when without sign or warning the rage just drained out of her body and a frail weakness took hold of her instead. She wrapped her hands around that last glass bottled animal and as though she suddenly regretted smashing the others to the ground, she hugged that one to her chest and dropped to her knees. Glass splinters dug into her flesh, but it was nothing, nothing compared to that pain that beat through her, forced her to feel and latched onto her like an unforgiving leech, draining her from her last sliver of anger.

A sob escaped her lips, then another, and she leant forward, horrified at her own public display of weakness, yet she couldn't stop the tears from flowing, could not summon the anger again as she moved back and forth, the bottle tightly against her chest, her lifeline.

Maybe one minute, two seconds or three hours later - she wasn't sure, didn't care - his hand touched her shoulder.

'Come,' he said and grabbed her arm.

She went willingly too weary to protest.

'Here,' he guided her back to her chair and took the bottle from her.

'Drink this, it will help,' he tucked a glass into her hand, which looked to be filled to the brim with a clear pink colored liquid, and she drained it without question.

The effect was instantaneous, a heaviness seemed to lift off of her chest and though she still felt like a thousand knives had sliced her heart into a million tiny pieces, the potion turned them into tolerable scars and she could suddenly breathe with a little more ease again.

'Thank you,' and she truly was thankful.

He smiled and nodded, his expression severe.

'I have to say that despite your troubled feelings, I am quite impressed with how much you have grown, Regina.'

'Grown?' she shot him an incredulous look.

'After all a heart that can break is a heart that can love,' he continued.

She grit her teeth and balled her fists together, some of her strength returning as new found anger flared up inside of her in response.

'Listen, old man,' she began, but the wizard held up his hand.

'Don't take it as an insult, Regina. It's a compliment, you're one of the most resilient souls I have ever come across and I have good faith that your heart will mend itself in good time.'

She looked away and shook her head. She'd rather tear it out than give it the chance to mend and break all over again.

'What am I doing here?' she changed the subject. She'd had enough of this, enough of Robin, there were more important matters that needed to be dealt with first, questions she wanted answers to.

'Ah! Yes!' the wizard said. 'Of course!' he turned away from her and reached for a book next to him on the floor.

'Naturally, your presence in this timeline is rather unwanted,' he frowned. 'No offense,'

She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms in front of her.

The wizard smiled brightly.

'And I know exactly how to solve that little dilemma.'


	11. Chapter 10

**10.**

'Wonderland? Have you lost your mind?'

'You've heard of it!'

Regina let out a loud snort.

'Heard of it? I once banished my mother to that horrid place.'

And if memory served her right Wonderland was still under her mother's rule at this very point in time.

'I see,' the wizard frowned and tapped his bottom lip with his index finger.

'Of course!' his eyes widened. 'Cora is your mother! The Queen of Hearts!'

She shot Merlin a stony look, crossed her arms in front of her chest and then shook her head and stood.

'I am not going to Wonderland, it's out of the question. Find some other way.'

'I'm afraid it's your only option, Regina. Without your magic the White Rabbit is the only portal jumper who can take you back to your time. Although, you will probably have to try your best to avoid a chance encounter with your mother once there,' Merlin said and smirked. 'Which is undoubtedly going to be quite a challenge for you, but I'm sure your inexhaustible well of furious resourcefulness will come in hand.'

He swept his arm around the room and she narrowed her eyes at him. She wasn't sure how she had lost control like that. In all of her years as Queen she had had short bursts of anger turned violent, yes, but never had she been reduced to a whimpering basket case afterwards. There was something that had fueled it, she still felt it bubbling just beneath the surface, but there was no time to linger on that now, she would find out what tugged at her insides later, when the wizard's bright grey eyes stopped watching her every move.

'Very well,' she sat back down, her eyes scrutinizing his. 'Just for the sake of argument, let's presume I am willing to jump a portal to Wonderland. There's still that tiny little issue of actually finding one that can take me there.'

'And Mr. Hood,' he interjected but she ignored him. _Mr. Hood_ was someone she could not think about right now.

'Unless you've got a looking glass buried under this mess, I don't see how that's ever going to happen.'

'Now, now,' he said, his eyes glistening with poorly contained humor. 'I'd say you're responsible for at least half of the mess you so blatantly accuse me of hording, your majesty.'

She shifted in her seat, her eyes landing on one of the motionless embryos on the floor.

'And as for finding a portal, you'd be surprised how many there are in this realm.'

'Jefferson is out of the question as well as breaking into Maleficent's castle!' she said.

There were many looking glasses and portals. She knew that, but she wasn't quite willing to use the ones she was aware of. She was a person out of time and place, and any endeavor undertaken by her or those who knew about her and Robin's predicament could endanger both their futures in unforeseeable ways. That was, if they hadn't already. She wondered about that, every second of every day they remained in this time; The ramifications, the consequences. They would be severe.

'I don't know any Jefferson and breaking into Maleficent's castle would be a very unwise idea,' he agreed.

'However,' he turned his attention to the other side of the room and stood from his chair. With a flick of his hand the broken pieces of the crystal ball that still lay scattered across the floor, floated back to the table. For a moment every piece and shard hovered in place but then just as quickly as they'd flown their way, they merged together, forming the same ball it had been before, unscathed and complete, not a single shard wasted and once whole, it landed boldly on the table in front of them. Merlin nodded, but not quite satisfied entirely, he bend down, took in a deep breath and blew it across the crystal surface of the sphere. On cue smoke appeared within, pulled from nowhere and contained by nothing. Remarkable. The way the wizard practiced magic beyond anything she had ever witnessed before. Even Emma, who could conjure the most powerful magic known to mankind, was an amateur compared to the seasoned wizard.

'There is someone else,' he motioned at the ball and a face appeared inside. Not Marian, not Robin, not even her past self. She found herself looking at an unfamiliar older woman, an extraordinarily attractive older woman. Her eyes a striking grey blue, her hair well maintained; curly black and only a few streaks of white betrayed her otherwise astonishingly youthful appearance. That, and the small wrinkles around her eyes, forehead, cheeks and neck, that looked uncomfortably out of place, on a face so fair.

'Who is she?' Regina asked.

She didn't recognize the greying woman, but there was something about the look in her eyes, and the wrinkles surrounding it, that made her blood run cold; not with fright but with weariness. This woman, whoever she was, carried a blackened heart and horded a darkened soul, she just knew, could feel it vibrate, one blackened heart recognizing another.

'She's called Gothel,' Merlin began. 'She lives on the edge of the Enchanted Forest up in a tower hidden from the world by her magic. And as it is she owns the biggest collection of looking glasses in this entire realm.'

Regina frowned and shook her head.

'Impossible,' she turned her eyes on the wizard. 'I would have known about her existence if that were true.'

'I sincerely doubt that.' Merlin said and smiled.

'Gothel keeps to herself. She hasn't been heard from in over 300 years. In fact, most believe her to be dead,' he frowned, tapped his lip again, then scratched his head as if lost in memory. 'But she keeps busy.'

'300 years?!' her eyes shot back to the ball. The woman looked older than her, yes, but not a day over 50, at least.

'Yes, she drinks from the fountain of youth once every full moon. Starts the month off looking like a maiden and ends it as an old woman, then starts anew the next month. In fact,' Merlin perked his head up. 'Few people know that Gothel used to be the protector of the fountain, that was until she decided to hide it from the world.' Merlin sighed and sadness latched on to his features. He knew more about this woman than he was telling her.

'What happened?'

He smiled, a sad smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

'Evil, happened, what else possibly could have?'

Regina nodded, she understood, perhaps better than anyone. Evil happened. It happened to a lot of people.

* * *

Their backs barely touched through the sturdy wooden prison bars, but he could feel the heat emanating from her body, it soothed his senses unwavering proof that she was there and hadn't been a dream after all.

Robin sighed and pulled his legs closer to his chest, his muscles, although accustomed to straw beds and unconventional sleeping patterns, felt strangely sore and stiff. Tortured like his troubled thoughts.

'Has he grown much?' Marian's voice wisped through the damp air, her nimble fingers sticking through the bars, padding the straw next to him. He found them and threaded his fingers through hers, giving them a reassuring squeeze.

'He grows taller everyday,' his lips twisted into a smile. 'And he has your eyes. Every time he looks at me I swear I can see you staring back at me.'

Her fingers tightened around his.

'Do you think he remembers me? When we get back to the camp, when he sees me, will he recognize me?'

But she never got back to the camp. In his mind she'd been gone for three years. Thirty more in their frozen state. His Roland barely remembered his mother, only sporadically asked for her, and though Robin had made sure his son knew whom his kind and courageous mother had been, she was but a phantom of a distant memory. Their son had some memories of his mother but most were fabrications of his own mind, a mix of tales his men told of his late wife and his own fantasies.

'He remembers you and what he doesn't remember we make sure he knows. It's important he knows, he needs to know how great his mother was… is.' Robin said.

Marian shifted around and he mirrored her movements, turning with her in synch. And as their eyes connected hers stood bright with unshed tears.

'I'm so sorry, Robin. I never meant for this to happen,' She pressed his hand to her chest and cupped his face with the other.

'I intended to return the moment Princess Snow White woke me, but she looked so –'

'You should have told me,' he cut her off. 'We could have worked this out together, Marian. Roland wouldn't have had to live without his mother for all those years, we would have –'

'Years? Robin I've only been gone for four months, you're exaggerating, darling,' she shook her head and he clamped his mouth shut. Once again his emotions had betrayed the confusing truth that were tormenting his thoughts and at a loss for words he could only stare at the incredulous look on his wife's face.

A lock clicked in the distance and a door at the far end of the corridor swung open. Robin turned his head and noted how it loudly connected with the wall next to it before it bounced shut again. The sound resonated through the insipid dungeon and settled in his stiff bones. He sprung to his feet, ignoring the pain that accompanied the stiffness and hurried to the other side of his cell. Two guards, broad, one shorter and fatter than the other, but both armed from head to toe made their way towards the cells. He looked at Marian, her eyes wide with fright, but also a glimmer of determination. This was it. Her moment. The moment where it had all gone wrong the last time. But now it wouldn't, because unlike last time he was with her now.

'Up!' one of the guards commanded as they came to a halt in front of Marian's cell. She scrambled to her feet and one of her hands came up to her chest, finding the hidden wand. Robin gave her a stern look and shook his head. _'Not, yet'_ his eyes tried to convey. She nodded and some of the terror in her eyes seeped away in response.

'Any last words, traitor?' one of the guards spat, while he unlocked her prison door. The other laughed, finding humor where there really was none.

'I do,' Robin retorted. The short fat one turned to face him. His eyebrows raised.

'And who have we got here? The infamous thief; _Robin Hood_.'

'Rather a thief than a filthy black knight, doing other people's nauseating biddings,' he spat and leaned his head to the side. 'Must be hard not being able to think for yourself.'

The knight's response was immediate. His eyes glowed with unbridled anger. His hands grabbed for Robin through the bars but Robin, quick as he was, darted backward and the knight's hands only grabbed at air. But that wasn't the end of it, still angered by Robin's words he reached for his keys, plunged them in the lock and turned them.

'Gareth, don't!' the taller one pulled Gareth back by his collar, his voice laced with an emotion that could only be defined as fear. 'The Queen will kill us both if you lay so much as a finger on Hood.'

'A finger?' Gareth opened his prison door and stepped inside.

'I'm sure the Queen won't notice one missing finger. How about it Hood?'

'Gareth!' the taller one mindlessly abandoned the other prison door and followed Gareth inside Robin's cell. He pulled hard at his companion's arm, but the task proved to be futile. Though shorter, Gareth was still fatter and stronger than his taller comrade.

'Don't be a coward, Jimmy. It doesn't suit your title,' he pulled his arm free from Jimmy's grasp and continued forward. His hands stretched out before him, reaching for Robin's neck.

'Fat guy!' Marian's voice called from behind the guards. They simultaneously turned their heads, their surprise palpable as they looked at Marian who stood directly behind them. They instantly advanced on her, but Robin knew what was coming next, better prepared than the unsuspected knights, he swiftly ducked down and only caught a glimpse of the wand as it glowed with magic in front of them. A second later a beam sprung from its tip and blasted into Jimmy's chest. Gareth caught the stumbling knight as he fell backward, he grasped at Gareth's chest, his hands clenching and unclenching as he gasped for breath while his entire body first froze and then turned to stone before their eyes. Robin stared in horror, the look on Jimmy's solidified face reflecting the fear in Gareth's eyes.

'Move away from Robin, or you will suffer the same fate as your friend,' Marian spat.

Gareth, shaking, stood up, his hands raised high above his head.

'Take us to the Evil Queen.' Marian demanded, her eyes wild with a type of madness Robin had never witnessed in her before.

The Queen.

Marian would succeed this time and it would all be his fault.


	12. Chapter 11

**11.**

They stepped inside her chambers. He knew, because he'd been there before. He recognized the mirror, her closet, the color of the walls and the Queen. She sat in front of a mirror and was holding what seemed to be an animated conversation with a head that floated inside the frame.

The cursed genie.

Gareth scrapped his throat.

'Your majesty,' he said, his voice almost a whisper.

She slowly turned, her body language betraying her annoyance. But when she saw them, her expression immediately shifted. Her eyes flickered to Robin's first; confusion, then realization as they landed on the wand in Marian's hand, she still held against Gareth's throat.

'You've come to kill me?' she pursed her lips and leisurely stepped forward. No panic in her features. She wasn't afraid. He knew what she looked like when she was afraid, and right now Marian was nothing more than an annoying wasp buzzing around her head, threatening to sting her but not dangerous enough to do serious damage.

'Don't take another step closer or I will turn this black knight to stone!' Marian warned.

The Queen let out a dark laugh.

'Foolish girl, you think I value his life?'

She lazily raised her arm, her eyes focused on Gareth's fearful ones.

'I'm sorry Gareth, but it seems this little traitor is forcing my hand.'

'No, please my Queen! I beg of you.' Gareth whimpered, the tone in his voice so full of sorrow, it made Robin's insides twist. She wouldn't. Would she?

Her fingers stretched Gareth's way. She would.

'Regina, don't!' Robin exclaimed.

But it was already too late. Her hand twisted in mid-air, Gareth's neck pulled to the side, turned painfully and then snapped loudly. Marian let out a yelp, jumped up and the wand clattered to the ground as Gareth's lifeless body slumped against his wife's tiny form. She stumbled backward, her eyes already searching for what she had lost but the Queen was faster and not a second later her death grip latched onto Marian's throat. Fear encompassed Robin's heart and he quickly stepped in front of Marian, blocking the Queen's view.

'Stop this!' he demanded.

'Step aside, thief! I will deal with your betrayal later!' she roared, not looking at him, refusing to, he was sure.

'Please,' he begged, approaching her. Marian's retching grew louder behind him and he needed a way to block it out. Not again. This infuriating Queen, it was almost ironic how she continuously insisted on hurting both women he cared about. Hurting herself, I was so completely twisted it was almost funny.

He grabbed her arm and she flinched. Her hold on Marian faltering but not breaking, it was not enough, he needed her to look at him.

'She's my wife,' he impressed upon her. 'Please, don't hurt her,' he pleaded.

Her eyes finally latched onto his, the horror in her expression tangible as the implications dawned onto her. She violently snatched her arm back and Marian fell to the floor with a loud thud. Her coughs and wheezes reminiscent of Regina's not a day ago, the memory tugged at his heartstring.

'Your wife?!' she repeated and took a step back as if burned by his words.

'Yes,' he held her gaze.

'You lied to me!' her eyes flashed between Marian and him. 'Everything you told me, it was –'

'It was the truth!' he took a step forward, and she flinched again. The connection between them painfully palpable, the only reason why she looked at him that way.

'Everything was true.'

'Robin!' Marian called from behind and something in her voice, the wheezing labored breaths laced with a frantic madness, made him whirl around.

His face fell at the sight before him. Marian was holding the wand again, had made use of the Queen's momentary lapse.

'Duck!' she screamed and flicked the wand upward, it burst to life.

Robin shook his head, his mind and heart, where before torn, now joined together and he jumped, not to the side or out of Marian's way, but right in front of the Queen. Marian, gasped, the wand already bursting with magic and it shot from the tip before she could stop it. She screamed at him, unintelligible words he could not hear over the blast and the force that hit him squarely in the chest. But the look in her eyes, the confusion and fear, said it all. He flew backward his body crashing into that of the woman he'd protected from the faith that had now befallen him and before he even touched or saw the floor beneath his feet, blackness consumed him.

* * *

She bolted up into a sitting position. Dazed and not fully conscious of her surroundings she gasped for air and clutched at her chest. Pain. So. Much. Pain. It was all her mind could focus on; it would not stop, had forced her awake. She took in a deep breath, then another. It resolved nothing and a whimper escaped from her lips as she curled her fingers around the sheets on either side. Her lungs burned, and then there was the dizziness. She forced herself to focus, but it proved to be impossible, impossible to control the scattered impulses that pushed through her body. Her heart hurt, more than before. _His heart_. Something had happened. Something had gone terribly wrong. She let go of the sheets and stumbled across the room, barely able to steer her feet in the right direction. Her hip connected with something sharp, another painful sensation on top of the pain in her heart blasted down her midriff, and she fought her body's natural impulse to give in to oblivion, to just let go of consciousness. Her hand landed on the doorknob, she pulled at it but it would not budge, remained unyielding, unimpressed by her feeble attempts. A frustrated cry tore from her lips and she pulled again unaware of the wisps of grey that spat from her hands as the door creaked and burst off of its hinges. She didn't notice, it was impossible to notice, her mind too consumed by one sensation only.

The sharp morning air filled her lungs and she leaned heavily against a tree, in search of a position, any position that could provide some relief. It was her mind, her heart and _his_, and all of it screamed for her to make it stop.

'_Focus,' _she whispered and squeezed her eyes shut, rubbing her temples with her fingertips. _'Focus.'_

Her mind enclosed itself around the pain, forcing it away from her heart and it did. It moved. She steered it downward then inhaled, once, twice. The pain streamed through her arms, to her hands, to her fingertips and that's when she felt it. Her eyes flew open, the grey wisps of energy sparkled from her fingertips and she gasped. An electrical grey light burst from her fingers, blasted into a tree directly in front of her and sliced through the wood like a sharp knife, not a splitter did it produce. The tree creaked and groaned loudly, refused to fall for long lingering seconds but it couldn't hold on forever and it eventually surrendered itself to its rewritten fate, fell against the tree next to it, rolled sideways and finally crashed to the ground below. The force of the impact vibrated through her body and the pain was gone. Gone along with that bold of bright grey energy that had sprung from her hands.

'Grey magic.'

She whirled around, he stood right behind her.

'Impossible,' the stunned and fearful look on Merlin's face as he stared at the fallen tree made her insides twist. This had been it. The cause of her outburst, the bubbling energy that had latched onto her insides the day before.

'The archer?' Merlin questioned, guessing what had ignited her powers.

'Yes, I have to go to the castle!' she said, her tone frantic as she away from the tree. He was in danger and no matter how betrayed she felt by his aiding Marian in her quest to destroy the Evil Queen, fact remained that she was still here, and that could only mean he had prevented it from happening somehow. She needed to get to him. Save him. He was still alive, she could feel it, but she needed more.

'The crystal ball.'

Merlin shook his head.

'There's no time for that, you need to leave now.'

With a flick of his hand he conjured a horse out of thin air. The look on his face as he handed her the reins, still frightfully mind numbing. She didn't understand. A horse?

'Just take me there. Or I could just do it myself now.' she raised her hand.

'No!' Merlin grabbed her arm and yanked it down.

'Whatever you do, you can't use this type of magic.'

She gave him a confused look.

'Then take me there.'

'I can't take you there. The combination of grey and light travelling in its purest form together, the results would be disastrous. Regina, the little there is known about grey magic, the way it's described in history –'

'Pandora,' she interrupted. She remembered the children's stories of the grey witch. Her mother used to tell tales of the many magical folk that had been believed to live in the Enchanted Forest long ago. But neither her mother nor Rumpelstiltskin had ever taken Pandora's tale as anything more than just a fable.

Merlin nodded.

'She was the only known wielder of grey magic, and we all know how her magic almost destroyed this realm and the ones that touch it.'

'I always assumed that was just a myth.'

'There are much stories we believe to be myths which are actually more than just that,' he frowned, then turned back to her. 'Use the horse it's only half a days ride and it's safer. Find the archer and then please, do return. I can't come with you, but there's much you still need to know.'

'You knew this would happen.' She accused and put her foot through the stirrup, her hands on either side of the saddle as she swung herself onto the horse.

'No!' he shook his head. 'I knew your child was powerful, but I assumed it would wield a new type of light magic. _This_,' he motioned at the fallen tree. 'is not what I expected.'


	13. Chapter 12

**12.**

He blinked once, his vision blurry, a distinct weight, that was hard to ignore, pressed down on his chest, forced him further back to consciousness. He tried to fight it, he wasn't ready, yet, oblivion felt so much better.

'You've awoken,' a voice tore his attention to the side, momentarily causing him to forget the pressure that weighed him down. He blinked again, his vision still unclear, but he could just make out a shape, not two feet away, an old short, balding man, dressed in black; a lackey, one of the Queen's servants stood to his right.

'Where am I?'

'The Queen will be with you shortly,' the old man ignored his question.

Robin shook his head, his memories still scattered. There had been a blast, it had knocked him off his feet. He'd crashed into the Queen and then –

'Marian!' his wife had been there, he remembered now, a flood of memories assaulting his senses and his breath caught in his throat.

'Where is my wife?!' he jerked up, ignoring the dizziness that ripped through his head, spotting his vision in response. The bed creaked and the mattress dipped further under his weight, but he scarcely noticed as he frantically rubbed his eyes and finally when the dizziness dissipated, his vision cleared.

'Your wife is safe,' the old man said, putting a reassuring hand on Robin's shoulder, his eyes a familiar dark brown.

Robin breathed a sigh of relieve. She was safe, alive. He rubbed a shaky hand over his face and looked up at the servant.

'Where is she?' he repeated.

'Like I said, the Queen will be with you shortly.'

'You're Prince Henry.' Robin caught the man's arm and pushed his blanket aside. His eyes, the same shape and color as that of the Queen's. He had to be –

'Regina's father.'

The old man smiled and cocked his head to the side, a deep frown visible on his wrinkled face.

'Regina…' he trailed, his eyes scoured Robin's features, looking for something, 'Yes,' he confirmed after a moment. 'You and my daughter know each other?'

'I –' Robin began but before he had the chance to answer the door behind them swung open. Prince Henry's expression shifted to concern and there she was. The door slammed closed and she thundered forward, a myriad of emotions playing on her face, emotions Robin recognized all too well, but she avoided his eyes again, just like before, her attention fixed on the old man standing between them.

'Leave!' she demanded.

Prince Henry straightened.

'Your majesty,' he spoke kindly, bowing his head and her expression shifted, responding to the softness in his voice.

'Please,' she then quietly added.

Without another word the Prince crossed the room and as he passed his daughter, his fingers brushed against hers, just for a fraction of a second then he was gone. Any other person would have missed the parental gesture, but not Robin. He caught it, and his heart ached for the old man. How hard it must be for Prince Henry to watch his daughter so consumed by evil. If only the Prince could see her in the present, it might lift the sadness from his features. But he would never know her like that.

The Queen turned her attention to Robin, her eyes following his line of vision down to her hand. She swallowed and blinked. The vulnerable look in her eyes betraying her thoughts, she knew he had caught the exchange.

She scraped her throat.

'You saved me,' her weariness palpable.

'Why?'

'You're welcome,' he retorted.

'Answer me!' she roared.

He groaned and sat up straighter, ignoring the pressure that wound tighter around his chest, or was it his heart?

'I don't have to, you know exactly why, Regina.'

She shook her head and started pacing the floor. It was then that he noticed the vial in one of her hands. She twirled it between her fingers, her mind miles away.

'Part of you must believe I'm speaking the truth,' he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood. 'You said it yourself; there's no conceivable way that I could have lied. I don't have magic –'

She raised a hand and closed her eyes.

'You don't have to convince me, I believe you,' she swallowed and settled her gaze on him, the Evil Queen fighting for control. 'I believed you the moment you jumped in front of that wand,' her tone bitter and she bit back the scowl that threatened to form on her face. 'You're a fool, thief.'

He stepped closer.

'But truth be told, you're also nothing more than a mere distraction, keeping me from my current goals,' she looked up at him and startled to find him so close she took a step backward, her eyes flickering to his exposed wrist. The lion tattoo mocking her. It intrigued him, the way she seemed, not to fear him, but what he represented.

'A distraction that I find myself unable to deal with in the usual way.'

He took another step closer and her eyes locked with his. If he reached out he could touch her.

'How will you deal with me then?' he asked, his interest piqued.

They stared at each other for a moment. The air crackling, sizzling between them. And he knew it was impossible to hate her, to not feel drawn to this woman even in her evil state. He could only see Regina and to that look in his eyes she responded. Her expression softened, her mask slipping, her defenses crumbling around them. She looked away.

'I'm releasing you. You and your wife.'

He felt his jaw drop slightly. _That_, he had not expected.

'You're what?'

'You have to leave. And I will have to forget,' she looked down at the vial in her hands and realization dawned on to him.

'Why? Why not just kill me?'

'Because I can't!' she roared and started pacing the floor again. And he understood, he understood better than anyone. It was why he'd saved her. Not just because he loved her but also because of the unexplainable connection preventing either of killing the other. It was absurd and astounding at the same time.

He reached out and caught her hand, she visibly flinched, ready to pull away but he prevented her, gripping her tighter.

'Thank you,' his eyes burned into hers.

Her breath caught in her throat, a thousand emotions flickering across her face. And he couldn't help but smile and pull her into his arms. She fought him, resisted him for seconds, but then the fight drained from her and she melted against him, her hands gripping his shirt, fisting the fabric, burying her face in his neck. It was the only time the Evil Queen would ever allow herself to succumb to feelings other than hatred and revenge, he was sure. He breathed in her scent, remembering, and it was hard to believe this wasn't his Regina. Not yet. After a couple of seconds realization seemed to dawn onto her and she roughly pushed against his chest and stepped away. Her breathing labored, her eyes confused and wide.

'Don't make me regret my decision, outlaw!' she snapped, furious as he watched her lock all those foreign feelings away again.

'Oh, I wouldn't dare,' he said and smiled, biting his lip.

She tugged a stray hair behind her ear, her anger having ignited her magic and he felt a cold wind blast through the room, freezing him to the core.

'There is a key next to the third dungeon cell that will open the one to your wife's cell. I trust you know the way. No one will stop you,' she motioned toward the door.

'Leave now.'

Robin nodded, his happiness almost numbing the tightness in his chest. It was probably just a side effect of the magic, he assumed. Then winced, turning toward the door.

'Thief,' he stopped and turned back, her expression grim as though she just remembered something.

'Before you leave, there's something you should know about the dark magic that you saved me from.'

'The wand's magic?'

'Yes,' she confirmed.

'I was able to slow down the magic from spreading to your heart, but I wasn't able to stop it.'

He frowned.

'What does that mean?'

'It means you've been cursed.'

'Cursed?'

She nodded.

'You're dying.'


	14. Chapter 13

**13.**

'Dy-ying?' He stuttered and stared at her, the word sounded foreign, void of meaning, as though spoken in another language. _Dying_. He was dying.

'You need to leave now,' she replied, her demeanor cold but for her eyes, which still shone with tears unshed.

'But how do I –'

'LEAVE! NOW!' she thundered, a tear slipping from her grip, travelled down her cheek and one of her hands came up to force him backward, but he held up one of his own, nodded and turned around, his mind too dazed to register his feet moving in the direction of the exit.

The door slammed close behind him and without care or worry for his surroundings he started down the corridor, the tightness in his chest almost suffocating now that he understood what it meant; he was slowly turning to stone, just like Jimmy. Poor Jimmy. Fear clawed at his insides.

His wife. He had to get to Marian first. He would have to sort his own problems out later. An opportunity had presented itself, whether out of pity or genuine care for his well being the Queen had released them. They were free. He had no time to waste.

He picked up his pace, his feet turning left and right, down steps and hallways until at last he reached the door to the dungeons. He pushed against it and it flew open without protest.

'Marian!' he called as he stepped inside. The key was next to the – was it the third or second cell?

'Robin, is that you?!' a tear streaked face, Marian's face, appeared in front of the first cell.

'Thank God,' he whispered, 'Are you alright?'

'Am I alright?' she pushed her hands through the bars; tears streaming down her face, her eyes desperate. He ran to her, his fingers tangling with hers.

'What's wrong? Are you hurt?' he kissed her forehead and she hugged him in response.

'Oh Robin,' she began and buried her head in his neck. 'When I woke up and you weren't here–' she paused and took in a couple of shaky breaths. 'I thought I'd killed you.'

'Oh God, Marian, no,' he reassured and kissed her forehead again. 'I'm alright, I'm fine.' and he was for now. He was alive.

'We need to get you out of here,' he whispered and she nodded, a weak smile forming on her lips.

The third cell; the key was next to the third cell, he remembered now. He pulled away from her, his eyes finding not only the key but also his bow and quiver. He stared at his weapon, surprised, then slung both over his shoulder, plucked the lonesome key from the wall and plunged it into Marian's cell door without hesitation. For a moment the key wouldn't budge, and he wondered if all of this was just a trap, a sick joke, but then it turned and the door flew open.

Marian's arms flew around his neck and he pulled her close in response, his fingers coming up to curl into the hair at the nap of her neck and he took a moment to breath in her scent. It had been such a long time. No bars between them that prevented him from holding her, keeping her from him any longer. Just Marian and him.

'Come,' he said after a moment and pulled away. 'We need to go.'

She nodded, one of her hands slipping into his and they sprinted down the corridor, pushed open the door, up the stairs and then found themselves back in the palace hallways.

'Where do we go?' Marian whispered.

'Just down there.' Robin pointed.

They would have to walk passed the room he had woken up in moments ago. It was the only way out. He wondered if she was still in there, if maybe she was waiting, listening. They turned left and right, their pace fast but soundless. When he finally neared the dreaded room the door stood ajar. Odd. He remembered vividly how it had banged close behind him not ten minutes ago. He slowed his pace, motioned for Marian to do the same as they approached the room. Sunlight burst through the small crack, then a flicker of a shadow passed and voices, an animated conversation between two people travelled their way. They froze in time. Marian's eyes shifted to his, asking, wondering. What should they do?

He soundlessly neared the door, indicating for Marian to follow him and just as they were about to shuffle passed and sprint the rest of the way toward the exit, he saw her. Her arms around a man he had never seen before. Their lips locked in a deep and passionate kiss. He stopped and Marian stumbled into him. He stepped closer to the door, all fears of being seen by the Queen gone while he watched as one of the stranger's hands came up to tangle in her hair, the other finding her breast, squeezing and massaging, eliciting moans of pleasure, pure satisfaction, from deep within her throat. His stomach twisted and a foreign hatred, for this man he didn't even know, bubbled up inside of him.

'Robin.' Marian whispered and tugged at his arm. 'Come.'

He nodded, but didn't move, unable to tear his eyes away from the pair. The man was backing her up against a wall now, the Queen's hands feverishly occupied, her aim clear, travelling down the man's bare torso, to his hips, to –.

'Robin!' Marian demanded more forcibly and pulled harder. He stumbled backwards; his eyes finding hers, she looked annoyed, angry even.

'Yes,' he nodded. 'Let's go.'

They tore through the hallway and once outside they continued to run, putting as much distance between the castle, the Queen and themselves until neither of them could go on any further.

'What the hell was that?!' Marian panted when they finally slowed to a brisk walk.

Robin shook his head.

'What is going on, Robin? You've been behaving so strangely lately!'

'Marian, I–'

'First you defend the Queen,' she cut him off, her tone frantic, 'then you jump in front of a wand to save her life, and then when I think I've killed you,' she stopped and swallowed hard, fresh tears forming in her eyes. 'you appear outside my cell, safe and whole without any explanation as to how you managed to escape–' she choked, 'all of which I can accept for the moment, but then you almost get us caught when you find her with one of her lackeys… and the look in your eyes, Robin…' she trailed. 'If I didn't know any better–'

'Marian,' he walked up to her. His hands coming up to cup her face, but she caught his arms and held his hands as her eyes bored into his.

'I'd say you have feelings for the Evil Queen,' he looked away. 'But that's impossible,' she shook her head, 'because you never met the Evil Queen before now.'

He squeezed her hands and looked down.

'Robin, please tell me you don't know her.'

'I–'

Loud trampling and the nickering of a horse tore their attention to the side. A rider. They looked at each other alarmed, Robin pulled his bow from his shoulder, their conversation momentarily postponed as he motioned for her to hide behind a tree. Marian nodded and disappeared out of sight just as a figure on a horse appeared near the stream next to them, he pulled an arrow from his quiver inserted it into his bow and slowly made his way toward the river.

* * *

The thirst crept up on her slowly at first. A stream, she was galloping next to a stream that spread long and wide in front of her, demanding attention, making her thirsty. She pulled hard on the reigns, the abrupt command confusing the nameless stallion and he hesitated for a second before slowing to a steady trot.

'Good boy.' She smiled and rubbed his neck, her fingers tangling in his long black mane.

It had been a while since she'd last ridden a horse. One of the last times had been in the Enchanted Forest, nearly a year ago in their present day. Their party had been on their way back from Rumpelstiltskin's castle, her horse had fallen behind, or rather she had ordered it to fall behind, having had no desire to indulge in chit-chat with Belle, Snow-White, Prince Charming and the then more commonly referred to; thief. But per usual Robin's watchful eyes had detected her absence and he had quietly urged his own horse to fall in step beside her.

'_It appears, your majesty, has fallen behind,' Robin began, a pleasant uplifting tone in his voice. She had no patience for pleasantries._

_She turned her eyes on him, one of her eyebrows arched high, and slowly examined him from head to toe._

'_It appears the thief has a knack for stating the obvious,' she paused, her eyes coming to rest on his striking blue ones. 'I'd suggest, Mr. Hood, that if you find at any time that you can't improve upon the silence in any way shape or form, you would do well not to speak at all.'_

_He stared at her for a few seconds; his mouth slightly agape and then shook his head, a smirk replacing the surprise on his face._

'_It amazes me,' he murmured. 'Tell me your majesty, are you always this... pleasant with everyone?'_

_Her eyes widened. Had he really just used that tone with her? Again? He addressed her with such infuriating disregard for the norm and when he looked at her his eyes almost always dared her to step across that line, informing her that neither fear nor admiration held him in place. No, Robin Hood harbored a solid distaste for titles of nobility and grace, a distaste for all that she was and would ever be. Yet, there was something else about his tone; he regarded her with that something she had grown quite unaccustomed to during her years as Queen and then Mayor of Storybrooke. It was when he looked at her that she could almost be fooled into believing that she was just a person talking to another person. It unsettled but then also intrigued her._

'_Tell me, Robin Hood of Locksley, are you always this presumptuously rude to Queens and royals alike?'_

_Robin's smile widened and he bit down on his lip._

'_Only when in company of enamored Queens, your majesty,' he said. Then bowed his head and before she had the chance to fully wrap her mind around what he had been implying, he'd spurred his horse on and caught up with the group ahead._

She pulled her hood over her head and swung her leg backward, slipping off the horse without effort. She ignored her sore feet and sticky dress that uncomfortably clung to her skin as she guided the horse to the stream. It appeared the animal was as dehydrated as she was, dipping his mouth into the water before she even had the chance to scoop up some in the palm of her hands.

It felt good; cold fresh water against her skin. She swallowed.

'Don't move a muscle!'

The horse's head and ears perked up.

'Dammit,' she muttered under her breath, water slipping through her fingers and plopping back into the stream. She should have checked her surroundings before carelessly dropping down in front of a river so close to her castle. She slowly stood and turned. Maybe, if she were quickly enough –

'Robin?' her eyes widened.

The archer frowned, the grip on his bow slacking; finding recognition in her voice.

'Regina?'

She pulled the hood from her head.

'It is you!'

'You're free,' she stuttered, confused. This had to be a delusion of some sort, a trick.

She took three steps in his direction, her intention clear but then she remembered, the look on his face when she last saw him, and hesitated. Robin didn't notice, his bow long since abandoned as he crossed the small distance between them and without faltering or second thought wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

It was him. No trick.

'You're unharmed,' she breathed against his ear, her voice small and uncharacteristically fragile, her own arms wrapping around his neck, relief and tears fighting for release. She swallowed both.

'How?' she choked against his neck.

He pulled back and looked at her, the lack of coldness in his eyes her undoing.

'You let us go,' he smiled and lovingly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his smile bright.

She shook her head. Impossible.

'That can't be–' twigs snapped loudly behind them and her head snapped up, surprised.

'Robin?' a voice called.

Not far from where Robin had dropped his bow stood a woman, clad in a plain beige dress and a red cloak draped over her shoulders. Her long dark hair pulled back into a tight ponytail and her eyes a familiar deep brown. Her son's eyes. Marian. Regina took a step backward, disentangling herself from Robin's embrace while Marian first looked at Robin and then at her.

'Who is –' she began but trailed the moment her attention shifted to Regina. She gasped loudly, her eyes sweeping back and forth between Robin and her.

'Robin, what's going on?!'


	15. Chapter 14

**14.**

Her expression darkened. In the tenderness of the moment she'd forgotten. Marian. Robin's eyes shifted to Regina, uncertainty lay in its depths. He took a step away from her and there, in that moment, the difficulties surrounding their current situation reinserted themselves, the force of which reignited those ambivalent emotions deep within and settled where they had sat before, like a front in between them. She should have known Marian was with him. She should not even be surprised, but it was difficult for her mind to comprehend the reality of the situation when her heart refused to accept that exact reality. He'd betrayed her, had conspired against her past self with his Marian. She'd almost forgotten, too sick with worry and then relief at finding him alive. But now…

'This is –'

'Regina,' she cut him off, improvising. 'My name is Regina. It's a pleasure to be finally meeting you, I've heard many things about you, Marian and I'm relieved to see you're safe,' she lied and took a step in Marian's direction, extending her hand. The woman stared at her peace offering and shifted uncomfortably, reminding Regina of a frightened animal about to flee the other way.

'You're the Evil Queen.' Marian whispered.

'No,' she simply stated and dropped her arm to her side, feigning disappointment and mild sadness. Marian could not know the truth. The truth would set her off, would turn her into an unpredictable element that neither of them could control and would most likely do more damage than good to the timeline, which, despite everything, was still her main concern.

'The Queen and I share a name and a face, but that is where the similarities stop.'

Marian frowned.

'I–I don't understand,' she looked past Regina, searching for answers behind her, searching for her husband. And as if on cue Robin appeared beside them, looking just as confused as Marian, but he kept quiet. He knew her well enough to understand that the best course of action, when there was none, was to play along.

'I was cursed,' she continued, chancing a glance at Robin, he nodded blankly.

'I once made a deal with the Dark One; Rumpelstiltskin, and when I broke my word, he cursed my face.' It wasn't a very original lie, but her past self had immediately jumped to that conclusion. She could use that same logic to her advantage. Surely it was a more plausible story than _time travel_.

'Cursed your face to look like that of the Evil Queen?' Marian turned her eyes on Robin, looking for confirmation. He nodded, his confusion gone. He understood now.

'Why?'

'It's a long and tedious story,' she rolled her eyes, feigning exasperation. It was a good thing she had mastered the art of lying decades ago.

'The point is that I am not the Evil Queen,' she turned her eyes on Robin. 'I met your…_husband,_' she paused and scraped her throat, the word tasted foul in her mouth. 'I met your husband not long after your death.' she shook her head. 'When he still believed you were dead.'

'Yes,' Robin chimed in. 'I rescued her.'

'Rescued me?' she turned and narrowed her eyes at him.

'There must be something wrong with your memory, _Robin Hood. _I clearly remember you being the one that needed rescuing,' she lied. Him, saving her? That would be the day.

'No, no,' he shook his head, some amusement dripping into his tone. 'I'm quite certain it was _me_ saving _your_ ass.'

She glared at him.

'Either way,' Robin continued. 'Regina and I got separated when I found out that you were still alive. We were working together '

Marian narrowed her eyes at her husband, the fear had lifted from her features, but she still appeared more than a little suspicious.

'This doesn't make any sense. Why didn't you tell me this before? Is she the reason you defended the Evil Queen?' her tone dark as she focused all of her attention on Robin. 'Is that why you jumped in front of that wand? Why you were so prepared to sacrifice yourself for some woman you don't even know?' Marian paused and swallowed, 'Because she reminded you of –' she turned her eyes on Regina. '–her.'

Robin's expression darkened.

'You did what?' Regina said, her eyes wide as she caught Robin's. He blinked and slowly nodded, his expression grave. Her insides painfully clenched together, there was something in his expression, something more. What the hell had happened?

'Regina and I– we're just friends, Marian. You have to understand you were gone–'

'I was only gone for four months,' she interrupted. 'Four months.'

'It doesn't matter what happened.'

'It doesn't matter? Why didn't you mention her before now? Do you have feelings for her?'

Marian's voice broke. Robin opened his mouth, and then closed it again, resembling a stupefied codfish on dry land.

'You do, of course you do,' she rapidly blinked her eyes. 'When you saw the Evil Queen with that man –' she trailed. 'That look, you should have seen him.' she shook her head and turned to Regina. This conversation was taking a turn for the worse.

'Marian.' Regina intervened, her own emotions wreaking havoc, and she didn't know what compelled her to reassure this woman who had been indirectly responsible for making her life a living hell ever since the moment they had arrived in this godforsaken timeline, but reassure her she did.

'You must remember that he came after you,' she pointed at Marian's chest. 'He wanted to rescue _you_ more than anything, despite everything,' she felt his eyes burn a hole in the side of her head, but it didn't matter, and truth be told she wasn't sure if Marian was the only person she was trying to convince of this truth she hoped was really a lie. 'If you don't believe your husband then believe me when I tell you that his feelings for me are _nothing_ compared to the love he feels for you.'

And that she did believe. For who could love their second chance more than their first chance at love?

Marian stared at her, the anger in her expression for a moment so very tangible that it made Regina wonder whether Robin Hood's wife was the violent type, but then while they held each other's gazes, Marian's rage slowly ebbed away and Regina knew her words had made an impression, knew that the unconcealed heartbreak in her own eyes was all the prove Robin's wife needed. And she wished it were all an act. That she really didn't feel that empty hollowness where her heart used to be.

'Regina,' Robin whispered and reached out, his expression pained, but she turned away and brushed passed them. She needed a moment, her emotions scattered, the grey magic bubbling to the front again. Reminding her of another little problem growing inside of her.

'I'm sorry,' Marian whispered after a moment of pressing silence.

'I overreacted.'

'It doesn't matter,' Robin repeated his mantra and sighed. Nothing seemed to matter anymore. If only it really didn't.

'You believed me dead…' she trailed. 'I didn't realize –' she paused.

Regina looked up as she heard Marian approach.

'I apologize,' she extended her hand. Her own peace offering, the fear now completely gone from her eyes and at least that meant she had swallowed the lie.

Regina nodded and shook her hand.

It was going to be a long, long journey back home.

* * *

Although they weren't, although Robin knew, Marian seemed to think that they were traveling back to the camp. She believed that soon she would be reunited with her son and Robin's merry men, that she would hold her three-year-old baby boy in her arms again and that she would just pick up her life where she had left it off four months ago. She talked about nothing else, never once mentioning Snow White nor their heroic plan that had involved capturing and dethroning the Evil Queen. It struck Regina as odd at first, but then maybe it wasn't so strange after all. She did look like the Evil Queen and trust was a hard thing to come by in the Enchanted Forest since her rule. Marian didn't trust her, had no reason to.

She carefully chanced a glance in their direction. They trailed a short distance behind, had been for hours. One of Marian's arms looped through Robin's, looking thick as thieves. No. Looking like husband and wife. It tore at her insides. They animatedly talked about Roland, that precious little person they both had in common. Robin laughed at something Marian said and then his eyes found hers, the laughter slowly died on his lips and the happiness in his expression dulled as they stared at one another. She cast her eyes downwards, spurred her horse on, creating a bigger distance between the pair and her, their words fading to background noise. If she believed that ripping out her heart would make a difference, she would have ignored Merlin's warning, she would have ripped it out instantly. But she knew from experience that when it came to Robin, her feelings for him ran deeply. Soul deep.

Another half hour past and surprisingly so Marian tentatively tried to engage her in conversation. She asked her about the curse, her face and her past, but Regina's answers were short and to the point, all lies. Soon Marian's efforts to turn to light-hearted chatter turned awkward and after some more minutes she gave up and returned to Robin, seeking the comfort of his inviting presence rather than remaining in Regina's icy one.

'We should settle here for the night.' Robin said after another hour of walking. 'Daylight is fading, we won't make it back to the camp tonight,' he threw Regina a meaningful glance.

No, at this pace they wouldn't make it back to Camelot for three more days. They really needed another horse.

'I'll get some wood so we can start a fire,' Marian offered and disappeared between the foliage. Regina slipped off her horse and though Robin hadn't said anything about accompanying his wife, she was still surprised to find him face to face with her the moment she turned around.

'I believe your wife went that way,' she pointed behind him.

'I think Marian won't have any problems finding some wood in a _forest_ on her own,' he countered. 'Besides we haven't really had the chance to talk. I still don't know what happened to you after–' he shrugged. 'You know.'

'Merlin?' she offered.

Robin nodded.

'He let me go after I found out about your wife's clever little plan to dethrone me.'

Robin's eyes widened.

'Regina, that wasn't–'

'Robin could you come help me darling?!' Marian's shrill voice cut through their conversation.

Regina briefly closed her eyes and shook her head, a sad smile forming on her lips.

'It appears your wife needs you,' she whispered. 'Wouldn't want to keep her waiting, now would we?'

Robin sighed and turned around.

'This conversation isn't over, yet,' he threw over his shoulder before disappearing out of sight. Would it ever truly be?

xxx

The fire was dying, and over the low embers that glowed and sizzled next to her, she watched how Marian's hand travelled up to Robin's chest. She inched closer, lingering for only a second until her lips found his. It was just a small peck; a good night kiss. Then she shifted back and tucked her head under his chin, as though it was just a common every day occurrence, and closed her eyes.

Maybe it all meant very little to Marian, maybe this is what they had done every single day until she'd died in the original timeline, maybe this was just their routine. She rolled onto her back, forcing down the lump that had formed in her throat. Maybe so, but their routine pierced right through her heart. One tear - just one - slipped passed. It rolled down to her ear, disappeared in her hair. Magic crackled in her palms, even now in the dark, she could see it sparkling from her fingertips. She needed a distraction, something that could take her mind off of Robin and his wife. She sat up, her eyes scouring the dark, landing on Robin's bow and quiver. That would do.

She noiselessly grabbed the weapon from Robin's side, careful as not to wake them and disappeared between the trees. What she wouldn't give for a fireball right around now, but a bow and a couple of arrows were surely an interesting alternative.

She picked out a tree, inserted an arrow, pulled the string tight, aimed and let go. The arrow soared through the air, clattered against the tree and then fell down. She really wasn't all that good at this.

'I think your aim is little off mark.'

She whirled around and caught his smirk as he approached.

'It's dark,' she bit back, annoyed that he had followed her.

'May I?' he stepped closer and reached for the bow. She hesitated, all she had wanted was to just be left alone, but then as she looked up at him, his eyes as weary as hers, she realized that he needed to shoot an arrow or two as much as she had wanted to set a couple of trees on fire, so she nodded and handed his weapon over.

As she sat down on a fallen tree nearby she observed him. He wasted no time. Released one, two, three arrows, all hitting their target, and then she couldn't resist. Just a little bit of magic because it annoyed her she hadn't been able to drive her own arrow into the biggest tree trunk around. As his fourth arrow cut through the air she nudged it, the tiniest bit, with her index finger, and just like her own failing arrow it clatter against the trunk and fell to the ground bellow.

A chuckle slipped from her lips before she could stop it, an actual genuine chuckle, and it felt good. She couldn't remember the last time when something had brought a smile to her face, let alone a chuckle.

'I think Mr. Hood, your aim is a little off mark,' she teased; throwing his earlier words back at him.

Robin turned around, narrowing his eyes at her.

'You did that on purpose.'

'Me?' she said, her eyes wide, a hand on her chest in mock response. 'I would never.'

But her bright smile betrayed her white lie and he just stared at her with a pretend scowl on his face, a look he could only hold onto for so long before his eyes softened, falling pray to the infectious humor in hers.

'I miss you,' he said then. The words slipped from his mouth before he could contain the emotion and the shock that followed mirrored her own.

She looked down at her hands, her giddiness gone and a heavy silence fell between them, stretching long and wide until she heard him approach and sit down next to her. She took in a deep breath.

'Did you really save her life?' she looked up at him, the question had been pestering her ever since he first told her, but she had pushed it to the back of her mind. If she lingered on the thought for too long, it would start to mean more than it should at this point.

'I did,' he said. 'I don't know how you found out but I never meant for Marian to harm you and when she pointed that wand at you...'

'I know,' she whispered. And she did. How could she possibly hate him for betraying her while at the same time he had selflessly thrown himself in front of a thoroughly lost and evil version of herself. The man made hating him impossible.

'I don't blame the Queen or you any longer,' Robin added after a short pause and she looked up at him, surprised.

'Why not? I still would have killed her if it hadn't been for your interference.'

He nodded and exhaled slowly, before continuing.

'I realize that,' he paused again. 'But I also realize that Marian's death may not have been as black and white as it first appeared.'

'A deer challenging a vengeful lion?' she offered.

He smiled and nodded.

'Something like that, yes. Marian chose her own destiny and the Queen was just–'

'The Queen,' she finished.

'The Queen,' Robin agreed.

'She really let you go? Just like that?'

'Well,' Robin began, a playful smile appearing on his face. 'I'd like to think that she just couldn't resist my dashing looks and enticing personality.'

She shook her head, unable to contain the smile that spread across her face and he caught her hand, twined his fingers through hers. Her heart skipped a beat, as she stared down at their joined fingers.

'Robin,' she swallowed, her voice a weak whisper, ready to pull back.

'Regina, I'm dying.'


	16. Chapter 15

**15.**

It was in the wintry way she smiled. In the way she could slice a person's integrity in half with only her sharp tongue and quick wit. It was in the way she carried her head; up, and back; straight, even in her darkest days. Yet, when he cast his eyes around, nobody ever truly looked. All heads turned away when she entered a room, fear and distaste clouding people's eyes, always. His hadn't, he had never shared their unified antipathy towards her, his gaze never faltered, never turned away. But there was more, it was in the way she eyed him when she thought he wasn't looking, in the way she'd opened up to him, and him alone, when she was rash to all others, and it was in the way she took what she wanted the second time they'd met. And then, in the end, it was none of those things. It never had been. It was everything and nothing, together, combined, and he didn't understand how or why. He knew as much about the existence of the moon and the stars and the spaces in-between as he did about her, and truth be told, when it came down to it, he couldn't be bothered with the hows or the whys either way. Because every day ended the same and his feelings for her never changed; he loved her. It was as simple as that. He needn't an explanation; there was nothing to explain. Despite her past faults, her mistakes, her evil ways, he had come to love her. She'd asked him, non-verbally; to stop. Verbally; to leave. To leave when he had regained what he had lost. He had his Marian back, but no matter, it had changed nothing, not really. He found it hard not to look at her. Not to touch her. Not to kiss her. Hold her. Not to be with her like he had been before; his second chance. And it seemed silly that he could have ever thought that all of those thoughts, memories and feelings would just fade away the moment he was reunited with his long lost wife.

They hadn't.

Of course they hadn't, and over the past couple of days he had denied voice to that internal conflict. He had hid his feelings, had locked them away and had pushed them out. He had submerged himself in all that was Marian and he had been happy to, at first, elated to have found the one he believed had died so long ago.

At first.

She'd resurfaced again. Time and time again she had found her way back into his thoughts, dreams and consumed his senses. But no! There was no going back. He had made his decision. He was bound by both his marriage and the choices he had made that had led to this alternate timeline. He'd scarified Regina's future and his, had endangered, influenced and possibly changed the present. He had made his choice and if that meant that he had to suffer the consequences then it was what he deserved.

'_But it isn't what she deserves'_, a voice pressed, nagged and pushed. She deserved more. He knew she was hurt. Behind that façade of smiles and silent acceptance, a storm raged. She needed to know. Before he ran out of time. He wanted her to know.

'I'm dying,' he paused, took in a shaky breath and timidly continued. 'When I saved the Queen the wand's magic collided with my chest and wound around my heart–' he swallowed and averted his eyes. 'The Queen–' he shook his head. 'You. You were able to slow down the effects of the wand's magic, but I _am_ still dying, Regina, and I don't know how long I've got until–'

He trailed, her silence unnerving him while she unblinkingly stared ahead, not a muscle did she strain. A beat later and she pulled her hand back, her brows furrowed, her eyes spitting fire before she turned away, then she stood, her back to him, hands planted in her sides.

'No.' she said.

He followed her, crossed the small distance between them, but she abruptly turned and moved away, her eyes wild with unconcealed anger. He didn't understand, had anticipated a different reaction, another emotion.

'The anger,' she began, staring ahead, as though she was talking more to herself than him, 'the urge to save your wife, despite the timeline, I didn't like it but I understood that, because I kept telling myself that if it had been Daniel…' she trailed and took in a shaky breath. 'but then I watched you betray me,' she pointed a finger at his chest, her voice quivering. 'And when _your wife_ told me you saved the Queen, jumped in front of a wand, sacrificed yourself for–' her voice frantic, then trailed. 'For me…I chose to forgive you, because, I know that's what Henry would have wanted. Despite everything he would have said that you did what you did because–'

'I'm in love with you,'

She took a step backward, anger morphed into shock.

'Don't.' she choked, put her hand up, and closed her eyes. 'You did not choose me,' she said.

But he ignored her despite her unwillingness to listen, for there was more and he was running out of time.

'I chose to save her. I would save Marian again and again if I had to do these past few days all over, because you have to understand, Regina, she is the mother of my child and my best friend, and there was a time I loved her more than anyone in this realm and because of that I tried to forget about what _we_shared,' he took another step in her direction and her eyes flew open, piercing his. 'but I… can't.'

He had watched her all day, had seen the darkness settle into her features and then relentless defeat when he'd followed her into the woods. He'd never seen her that defeated, hadn't known she was capable of hitting that low. She was the strongest woman he had ever come across, but she hadn't noticed, she'd been too closed off to notice. Too consumed by her prejudice, her pride. Blinded but for what she allowed herself to see.

And when Marian had kissed him, curled up next to him that very evening, there had been a moment when he had had to suppress the urge to pull away. Despite the love he felt for his wife nothing was the same anymore, it was different. He'd half-heartily returned the kiss, a peck on her lips, that's all it had been. He had tried to recapture that moment, that moment he had shared with Marian in the Queen's dungeon, but it was like he was forcing himself to believe that oranges tasted of apples, when in reality he desired apples and that love was merely a state of mind, a choice. There had been a time, a moment in a distant past when Marian was his and he was hers and the whole world was theirs, but it was all a memory now; no more.

'Stop,' she said, a dark edge latched to her voice, as the anger spilled out of her. But there was still more, and he wouldn't stop until he had spoken his fill.

'Please,' he pleaded. 'You have to know, because I might never be able to tell you if I don't tonight,' she fell silent and used that silence to explain, to reveal what he should have said long before now.

'While the Queen held us imprisoned, I had myself convinced that what we shared in Storybrooke was insignificant, none comparable to the love I felt for my wife, and for a moment I truly believed that Marian and me had rekindled those old feelings, that I had successfully banished you from my mind,' he stepped closer, wanting but resisting the urge to caress her cheeks, lips. 'Even when I discovered that Marian had created her own fate,' he paused, waiting for a startled response, but her eyes remained silently fixated on his features and it was hard to make out the expression that lay in their depths, for it was dark and he was running out of reasons to take that last step closer.

'But then when I saw you, when I saw that infuriating Queen with–' he trailed. It had been jealousy that had consumed him, a blind jealous rage when she had thrown herself at this man he had never seen before, and he'd realized,

'I realized that I didn't jump in front of that wand to protect the timeline, nor out of a sense of misguided honor. I jumped because I couldn't bear the thought of never seeing you again, of waking up the following day and not finding you there, nor remembering ever having known you. I love you. And I need you to know that no matter who or what you are in whenever timeline, I'd fall in love with you again and again for you fill a space within me I never realized was hollow. I do not understand it myself,' he shook his head, 'but I do know that if I'm to die tomorrow in this retched place, it would be you I would want to spend that last singular moment of infinity with.'

And so it was.

He bridged the remaining space between them, close but not touching, and he could finally see her eyes and a shimmer of tears beneath her lashes. It reflected off of the faint moonbeams that had chosen to push through the clouds at that exact moment and he'd never seen a more breathtaking expression on her face before. She did not move, she didn't say anything. He lifted his hand, reached out and when she didn't reject him, he softly caressed her cheek. She closed her eyes, leaned into his touch and it was all the encouragement he needed. He pulled her to him, her arms wound around his waist, her face buried into his neck, her warm breath coming in short pants, and he knew she was struggling between the desire to resist or accept those raw emotions they invoked in each other. He shifted slightly, ready to voice his remaining thoughts, when a sudden scream rent the silent night air.

They jumped apart, for a second she stared at him and he stared back, her eyes wide, renewed anger flooding her features as she scanned his face, then a second scream ripped their attention to the right.

Marian.

They ran. He grabbed his bow and quiver, pushed through the foliage without a moment's thought. She followed him, he knew, the sound of breaking twigs trailing behind him and when they finally burst through the clearing, another muffled scream assaulted his ears. The sight before him stopped him cold.

A group of precisely forty-one bandits littered the scene, then closed around them as though they'd been expecting company. He knew there were forty-one of them, without a doubt, because he'd recognized their leader and he instinctively stepped closer to Regina, his bow drawn, pulled tout, trained on the head of the man who held Marian in a tight prison-like grip, one arm around her waist, his other hand covering her mouth, muffling her angry screams. She kicked and struggled against him but the man was stronger, bigger and fiercer, Marian's petite frame no match.

'Robin Hood!' the man exclaimed.

'How nice of you to finally join us! And you brought company! Please don't let our sudden appearance stand in the way of etiquette and good manners. Introduce me and my men to your lovely companion, Hood! So, very lovely indeed,' greedy eyes sized Regina up, and down and up again.

He took another step closer to her, his side bumping against her arm.

'You know this arrow never misses its target, I suggest you let Marian go now and maybe I'll let you live,' he spat.

The man's lips split into a wide grin, revealing black teeth and a gapping hole where a front tooth should have been.

'My, oh my, is this any way to treat your guests, Robin? I'm deeply offended,' the man pouted and then turned his eyes on Regina.

'Alas, it seems that I will have to introduce myself to the lovely lady instead,' he bowed his head. 'The name is Ali Baba and these,' he motioned his arm around the clearing, 'are my forty thieves.'


	17. Chapter 16

**16.**

'What is the meaning of this?' Robin said, keeping his weapon trained on Ali Baba's head. 'We had an agreement, you're not supposed to be here.'

And he really wasn't. From what Robin could remember Ali Baba had not been in the Enchanted Forest, nowhere near it in the original timeline. Robin knew, had received word from his companions further north that the forty-one thieves had set up camp near the mists of Avalon all those years ago. He remembered because around that same time Marian's remains had been discovered, or at least what was left of her burned bones and it had made little sense to him for she had been gone for months by then and her remains appeared freshly burned. He hadn't lingered on any of that for long, had recognized the ring around the skeletal finger, and they'd buried her, no questions asked. She was dead and the Sheriff of Nottinham had been her executor, or so he'd believed and that's all that mattered then. But now none of that would ever come to pass. A foreign terror wound around his heart, strengthening the growing tightness in his chest. Something had happened, something significant had changed and as he glanced back at his wife, her eyes filled with anger rather than fear, he wondered how many of these changes had been caused by his saving her.

Ali Baba shrugged.

'We received a better offer.'

'A better offer?' Robin inquired, buying time, what for he didn't know. He loathed admitting it, but they really were outnumbered, no matter how strong he believed Regina was he doubted her magic could tackle all forty-one thieves in one go. Surely, even magic had its limits. He chanced a quick glance in her direction, her eyes fixated on Marian, her expression unreadable, distant. No magic emanated from her hands and he wondered what held her back.

'You must understand,' Ali Baba continued. 'Times are rough, and wealth is fleeting.'

'Fleeting?' Regina finally erupted, her dark voice laced with mock humor, a sign of her patience wearing thin. 'Last I heard you possessed a whole cave filled with treasures up in the Sands of Galland.'

'The lady speaks!'

'The lady is unimpressed with this amateurish display of power. Leave now and no harm will come to you and your men.'

Laughter erupted around them, her threat falling on disbelieving ears and eyes, they obviously didn't know who they were dealing with, had never actually met the Evil Queen.

'You found yourself quite the feisty lady here, Hood. Are you sure you wouldn't rather exchange your wife for that fire specimen?'

And as though to emphasize his point Ali Baba pulled Marian closer against his chest and leisurely trailed one of his hands up her side, lingering near her breast. Marian let out a muffled cry in response, continued her struggling, but her resistance hardly seemed to make an impression on the thief, whose attention remained fixed on Regina.

Robin's grip on his bow tightened as a blind fury shot through his vision.

'Bastard!' he seethed. 'Let go of her or so help me, you will lose that hand!'

Ali Baba laughed, a harsh sound that spliced through the silent night air.

'You and I both know that the only reason you haven't shot me yet is because you're _heavily_ outnumbered, Hood. Where are your merry men when you need them most? Put the bow down and no harm will come to you,' he echoed Regina's words, a mock smile playing on his lips while he eyed her.

Robin expected her to respond, to conjure one of her infamous fireballs and throw it at him notwithstanding Marian's presence, but she remained unmoving, despite the uninhibited anger that emanated from her being.

And then, as blind rage consumed him, he took the shot instead. Foolish maybe, but what did it matter? They would be captured anyway, his head presented on a platter to the Sheriff, he just knew. He would rather take out Ali Baba before that happened and he was confident he could. After all, he was the best archer in the Enchanted Forest, his arrows never missed, were supposed to always hit where he aimed. And for a moment it seemed Robin was right in his assumption, the arrow sliced through the air, right on target, Ali Baba's head in line with his weapon. Until it wasn't. Out of nowhere something collided with his arrow from the side, changed its course and landed in a tree on the other side. That had never happened before. His eyes flew to the right, anger filled cries rent the air, Robin's hostile act reason enough for Ali Baba's thieves to react in kind. They launched forward, at least a dozen of them closed in around them and he knew that was the end of it, the thieves' bows and arrows directed at Robin's chest, head and other extremities. He dropped his own bow, grabbed Regina's hand, laced his fingers through hers, a thousand questions on his mind, the most prominent once more; what was holding her back? And that's when he noticed the faint grey glow that started at her fingertips. Grey? He took in a sharp breath, looked up into her eyes as the thieves' reached him, grabbed him by his collar, arms and jacket; tore him from her. She met his eyes, her expression empty, then looked down, acknowledging his unvoiced question, and when the broadest of men reached her a sliver of grey burst from her hands, collided with the thief's chest. He flew across the clearing, crashed into a tree on the other side, unconscious. Movement ceased.

'What is this magic?!' Robin heard Ali Baba scream and the other thieves that held him turned their attention on Regina.

'A witch!' one of his men exclaimed.

All bounded forward, more angry cries rent the air, their weapons trained, aimed on Regina, innumerable arrows shot across, but they never reached their target, bounced off her before they ever got close enough to do any harm. It seemed as though a four feet wide impenetrable shield had formed around them both. Robin stood frozen, wide eyed as he watched her. He had never seen her like this. Sure, she had used dark magic before, light magic even, but this, this was different.

One thief after another skit across the air, grey wasps of magic following where they landed, but there were too many of them and soon enough he noticed her struggling. Fatigue set in while more arrows relentlessly zoomed at her. The more that pressed against that shield the more disoriented she became, when finally, one of them, pushed through that impenetrable wall of magic and pierced her through her upper arm. The scream that followed reverberated through the forest, shattered his heart, and he wanted to run to her, make sure she was alright, but before he could take so much as one step in her direction more grey burst free, knocked him backward, right across the clearing, and lit up the entire forest.

Then everything went dark; completely black.

All sounds sucked away, all the stars and the light of the moon extinguished. He could not see them, thought for a moment that maybe the fall had blinded him, but not a second later, where she stood, a sudden glow appeared, weak at first, then grew brighter and brighter with every new second that past. Brighter still while he pushed himself onto his knees, crouched forward, a chill running down his spine at the sight of her. This wasn't her. So completely consumed by magic. This could not be her.

The grey light piqued, burst free, her feet left the ground, her eyes rolled backward into her head as she hovered in midair. They all watched, unmoving, the thieves too stunned to react. Robin quickly chanced a glance at his wife, she had stopped struggling, Ali Baba's grip had loosened around her, but she didn't attempt an escape, watched, as they all watched, fascinated, yet terrified.

Regina's hands slowly rose, almost automatically stopped at chest level, stretching in front of her. And they all knew, before any of them could react, it was too late, grey magic burst from her hands, a whirlwind of light and wind riveted across, hit every single one of Ali Baba's thieves as well as the man himself in the chest, head, throat; threw them backwards all around, bodies flying everywhere and Robin knew, instinctively, the moment the magic collided with their bodies; they were dead. He ducked down, never in his life had he feared her, not even when he had met her as the Evil Queen, but seeing her this way, ablaze, almost inhuman, it terrified him.

Another grey wisp of magic spew from her hands, knocked the last thief backward, _dead_ and before he hit the ground, all the light seeped out of her, her brown iris's rolled back, latched onto his and with a loud sigh and like a rag doll she dropped to the ground.

He reacted on instinct, crouched forward and pulled her limb body towards him while he cradled her head in his lap. Her eyes closed, her skin glowing weakly, having assumed a sickly grey hue. The sight of it nauseated him.

'Regina,' he said on a broken whisper.

He softly shook her shoulder, careful to avoid the broken arrow that protruded from it, stained with blood, but she didn't respond, her head lulling to the side. He carefully brushed a strand of hair from her face, bent down and touched his forehead to hers. He murmured soft words of comfort to himself, her, pleading with the gods, any god, for her to be alright. Her eyes remained mercilessly closed.


	18. Chapter 17

**17.**

He shook her again; every nerve in his body on fire but her head merely rolled left, right, then left again; limp in his arms, not steering, unmoving.

'Regina,' he whispered, his lips pressed to her temple as he softly placed one hand over her heart. And there, to his immense relief, he felt it; the steady rising and falling of her chest, in rhythm with her beating heart, her exhales barely detectable; irregular but continuous. He let out a long sigh, the tightness in his own chest relaxing ever so slightly.

'Robin!'

But why didn't she wake up? Why was her skin so incredibly pale; glowing grey, and her exterior uncharacteristically vulnerable. Even when she'd used white magic on her sister had she not collapsed, had she not lost control, but it had all happened so fast, and it had seemed as though control had been far beyond her abilities this time.

'Robin!'

He spun his head around. That voice; a faint echo in the silent night, her approaching shadow casting a dark stain across the otherwise half lit plain. Marian. She was right behind him: alive. And in the chaos of it all he'd forgotten all about his wife.

'Robin!' she repeated once more and then dropped down next to him, a hand on his shoulder, her face inches away. But he couldn't look at her, couldn't bring himself to face his wife when there were so many things he couldn't say, despite the fact that he was relieved to find her unharmed.

'Are you alright?' she asked.

'Yes,' he answered hollowly as he shook the woman in his arms once more, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand. Her skin cold, so incredibly pale and he feared her shallows breaths were just that, shallow and slipping.

'Is she alright?' Marian inquired, concern laced in her voice.

He shook his head and then finally turned to look at her. The wild expression in her eyes, her torn clothing and dirt streaked face more telling than words could ever express.

'Where did they come from?' he cut to the chase, but Marian shook her head.

'They were not supposed to be here,' he murmured more to himself than her.

'They appeared out of nowhere, they grabbed me and…' she paused and scanned his face. 'Where were you? And how did she –?' she motioned towards Regina's limp form.

Yes, that _was_ the question, how did she? He stood, gathered her up in his arms and as her head fell to his neck a profound sadness latched onto his insides at the very feel of her cheek against his skin.

'How did she do that?' Marian repeated, her expression turning to stone at the sight in front of her.

He stared at her for a few moments. More questions, more lies, more deceiving answers. There had been so many and he was losing track of what he'd lied about and what he hadn't. How? He didn't even know himself anymore.

'I don't know. I've never seen her use that type of magic before.'

'But you knew she had magic?'

He nodded.

'Why didn't you tell me? She just murdered 41 people and didn't even bat an eye!'

'Thieves!' he bellowed.

'What difference does it make?! They were human beings,' she countered. 'Is she evil? Is that why she carries the face of evil?'

'She's not evil!' he insisted his patience wearing thin. 'And may I remind you that she probably saved your life, Marian!'

'At the cost of 41 others!' she countered, matching Robin's tone. 'I know you Robin, and I know you would never approve of such methods. What happened to you? I know you've been keeping something from me, I can see it in your eyes, what aren't you telling me?!' and she was pacing now, her expression livid as her eyes wandered around the clearing, scanning the corpses all around, and he had to admit that she was right. He did not approve of murder. His stomach knotted together at the sight of Ali Baba's lifeless body behind her and then the other faces of the dead rovers; an unfamiliar sight. Questions of what consequences this would bring forth crashing around him. How many lives were changed for good now? What would, and what wouldn't come to pass?

'I don't think she was in control of her magic. She would never do this,' no she wouldn't. She'd been much more concerned with the timeline than he had been. She still was.

Marian whirled around, regarded Regina's limp body, considered the grey glowing skin for a few moments and then let out a heavy defeated sigh.

'Were you with her before Ali Baba grabbed me?' she swallowed.

He silently nodded, his eyes never leaving hers, but Marian bit her lip and looked away. A shimmer of unshed tears appeared in her eyes reflecting off the slowly rising light of the early morning sun.

'Yesterday she said that you couldn't possibly love anyone as much as you love me and I believed her. I saw it her eyes. But I made a clumsy mistake then,' Marian turned back, wrung her hands together before she continued. 'I failed to look into your eyes when she said that.'

'Marian,' he replied, but then trailed. What could he say? He shifted Regina closer to his chest, her shallow breaths growing stronger when he did.

'Just…' she held up her hand. 'I need a moment.'

She turned around and without another word disappeared between the foliage. A moment. She would return soon enough. It was her standard response to every situation that caused her emotional distress.

Part of him wanted to follow her and his instincts told him to do just that, to explain, to elaborate, but what could he say? What could he possibly tell her that would improve this bleak situation? Yes, he loved Marian. Loved her with his whole being, loved everything he knew about her and remembered. Yet, his love for her wasn't in the way she talked to him or touched him. No. Another plagued his thoughts, pushed forth those images, fantasies, that didn't include Marian. Not anymore.

And while he stared after his wife a searing pain shot through his chest; he gasped and cringed, almost losing his grip on Regina. The poisonous curse spread further, without prior warning, just a pain that petrified his insides, causing the harsh reality of his own mortality to reinsert itself. His eyes quickly darted around, searching for a place to sit before the pain became too overwhelming. He gripped Regina tighter, and to his surprise the pain momentarily ceased and her breaths grew stronger still.

He sat down with a heavy sigh, propped her head under his chin while he rocked her back and forth in his arms. Her coma worried him and the fact that he was living on borrowed time himself didn't make matters easier either. He should have said something. He should have told her about the curse, but he hadn't. He hadn't mentioned it to either of them. He hadn't said a word to Marian and he hadn't told Regina that it was a curse that was slowly invading his body, turning him to stone rather than sucking the life out of him, leaving him soulless. He'd kept it from Marian for the simple reason that when she had kissed him nothing had happened. True love's kiss. But Nothing had happened. And deep down he'd known this, had feared precisely that and therefore he had said nothing. And Regina? How could he tell her? How could he expect anything from her after the way they'd betrayed each other. But he'd wondered nonetheless. Wondered what would happen if she–

'M'lady,' he whispered in her ear, kissed her temple and brushed his fingers down her neck. Her heartbeat tripled beneath his fingertips, he frowned and looked down, sure that she felt it; felt his touch.

He kissed the side of her head again, lingered for a moment, noting how the tightness in his own chest almost seemed to retreat, but then he pulled back and as he did he noticed how where his lips had touched her skin the grey slowly started to fade.

His eyebrows knit together.

'Robin?' a groggy voice.

'You're awake,' he breathed, relief flooding him. 'Thank God.'

He pulled further back to look at her, but his joy almost immediately disappeared the moment his eyes fell on her face. She looked fragile, too fragile.

'How are you feeling?'

'What is going on?' she ignored his question, while one of her hands came up to touch her forehead.

'My head is killing me.'

He bit his lip, his eyes landing on the nearest corpse.

'You killed them,' he hesitated. 'All of them.'

She swiftly turned in his embrace, too quickly, for she instantly shut her eyes, fighting the pain that overwhelmed her then. But she fought it nonetheless and as her eyes flew around the clearing once more, a panic he had never witnessed in her before settled in her features and it was an unsettling emotion to be privy to. For as long as he'd known her she had always appeared relentlessly fearless, even when he had known she had felt anything but.

'I don't remember any of this,' she said, struggling to stand, but she was still too weak, slipped and tumbled backwards. He caught her.

'Easy there,' he smiled. 'I think your body isn't quite used to mass murder on this particular scale,' he joked.

She stared at him for a moment then frowned and shook her head.

'Don't be ridiculous,' she rolled her eyes, quite unaware of the sickly grey energy that still emanated from her glowing skin. 'I can stand,'

She pushed herself up again, her legs giving way the moment she stood, falling back into his arms a second time. She let out an annoyed sigh and despite it all he had to fight the urge to suppress a laugh. She could be so stubborn. Even when the force of gravity weighed her down she would insist that she could fight the unconquerable.

'Fine,' she grunted through gritted teeth, giving him another annoyed glance. 'Maybe, I do need a moment,' she sighed and when she did her eyes suddenly rolled back into her head.

He sat back, his hand moving around her waist while he ignored the ever-spreading pain in his chest. He was concerned but also too relieved to be concerned with curses and his own impending doom. But she sagged further against him, her breaths resuming those short irregular pants.

'Hey,' he said and nudged her straighter, 'stay with me,' he whispered in her ear. But her eyes continued to fall in and out of focus and he realized that maybe his relief had been too presumptuous.

He grabbed her tighter and stood.

'What are you doing?' she panted but failed to put up any further sort of physical or verbal fight.

'I prefer clearings with fewer corpses.' he said.

'You don't have to carry me,' she countered before her eyes lost focus again. 'Regina?'

No response.

Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

'Marian!' he yelled, pushing his way through the bushes. 'Marian!' he tried again. There was no time to linger any longer. Her moment was up. If there was one person who could help him make sense of what had just transpired it was the wizard, he was sure. They had to keep moving. They had to. Fear gripped his insides. What was wrong with her? Her skin; where before it had regained some of its natural color now appeared grey again. It was as though, like him, something tore at her insides, consumed her whole.

'Marian!' As he pushed between the last few bushes he entered another clearing, and he came face to face with a dozen or so horses; goods tied to their backs, weapons scattered around. Ali Baba's horses, but no Marian to be seen. He turned in circles. Called for her again but silence was his only response.

She'd gone.


	19. Chapter 18

**18.**

He pressed Regina's limp form closer to his chest while he circled the clearing a second time.

'Marian!'

She could not have gone far, she might still hear his cries, respond to the desperation in his voice, but as the seconds ticked by the only observable response that he could perceive was the continuous rustling of the wind in the leaves and the soft nickering and foot stomping of Ali Baba's horses beside him.

'Dammit Marian,' he muttered to himself.

Why would she run? What did she expect to find or gain by disappearing once more? He could not save her, could not make the decision to follow her again and to his surprise an innate detachment formed at the thought of following her a second time. It occurred to him that over the past days he had found out that there was a distinct difference between the Marian he called his wife; the woman who had died years ago and the Marian he had saved from the Evil Queen. They were the same in appearance, yet, different in mind.

A raw grown startled him out of his referee and he watched how a painful grimace appeared on Regina's face.

'M'lady,' he whispered, his eyes falling on her arm. The arrow was still protruding from her tortured flesh and she appeared to continuously drip blood on the ground in tune with the irregular ticking of a nearly broken clock. This was no good. In his hast he had almost forgotten the injury she had sustained. He mentally reprimanded his own carelessness, knowing that with each drop that flowed from her arm the little strength that she had left might disappear forever. He moved away from the clearing, careful to place her on a patch of dry leaves and once settled he cautiously tore the fabric around the arrow from her arm to gain a better look. He had treated wounds like these before and as he closely examined it he quickly determined that she had only sustained a flesh wound. She had been lucky. But then again, it wasn't the wound that worried him most. He made quick work of the arrow, broke off the head first then the nock but what was to come next would be painful and despite his worries he hoped her coma was deep enough to withstand the pain that would surely follow.

He harshly pressed his hand down, pushing what was left of the arrow all the way through her flesh. A scream rent the air, undoubedtly having come from deep inside of her, it shattered his resolve, but it was done. He flung the mangled arrow over her shoulder, harshly pressed a cloth down on the wound as she writhed and struggled against the pain. It had not been entirely unexpected but he had hoped to avoid this. She stared at him, her eyes wild and frantic and for a feverish moment she seemed ready to lash out, like a wild deer trapped by a deathly predator. But then she recognized him.

'Shhh,' he whispered and placed his hand on her cheek. 'It's over.'

'I can't,' she closed her eyes and he knew that the adrenaline pumping through her veins would disappear soon, that she could slip into unconsciousness any moment again. She knew it too.

'Go,' she whispered.

'What?'

'I heard,' she panted, her forehead coming to rest against his. 'Find Marian.'

He shook his head.

'No.'

'The timeline.'

'No.'

'If she changes the timeline –'

'To hell with the timeline!' he interrupted, shaking his head against hers.

'I'm taking you to Merlin.'

'It's too late,' she whispered, her voice losing momentum.

He pulled away, looked her in the eye and then pressed his lips against her forehead.

'No,' he countered. 'It's not.'

And maybe it was her own stubbornness that had rubbed off on him and now drove him, but he knew that it was a lie, that there was still enough time to save her. The grey magic seemed to have caught her in an in between, a limbo, if you will, and though he still had no idea how she came to possess such magic he instinctively knew it was the only reason she was still alive. It may have weakened her severely but it also fed off of her, like a parasite feeding off of its host, it needed her.

She had slipped into unconsciousness again and as he lied her back down, treated her wound, stopped the bleeding and bandaged her arm; he glanced at Ali Baba's horses, several of them attached to an old caravan.

* * *

Throughout the years books had never failed Merlin. Whenever he found himself at a loss for what to do he would call upon them and they would come to him in the same manner old friends would call upon each other for help. They would provide him with the information he needed, or the comfort he sought. And over time they had taught him all he knew about magic, bravery, chivalry, the good, the bad and the in between. They had defined heroes and villains for him and the grey areas that plagued their conscious. Because of that, Merlin was sure that books contained all of the answers to every single question that was ever cast into the great void. No, books had never failed Merlin. Until now.

'I don't understand,' he muttered again and again, over and over. He had learned much about grey magic; he understood the destructive forces that were involved. Nothing good could come of a power so strong, he reasoned. And the only thing he had to base that on was the proof that lay in front of him. Pandora had been a wrathful child, had almost destroyed three realms in that proverbial 'clean sweep', before she destroyed herself. But what little there was known about her did nothing to satisfy Merlin. He could not understand how the child of an archer and a queen could be as powerful as the once so wrathful Pandora.

He sighed and flipped another page, his eyes falling on a different version of that dreaded poem he had been studying for what seemed like an eternity now. It was the only clue he had about what had driven Pandora to the evil side. If only he could understand her history, he might be able to understand her magic and help Regina contain it, but try as he may every word was as mystifying to him as the next as he read it again, and again:

'_Weep, weep,_

_Pandora sleep._

_A wrath so deep,_

_Born from grief,_

_Destroys all worlds,_

_One clean sweep._

_Weep, weep,_

_Pandora grieves._

_Both lost to fire,_

_One desire,_

_A breath so deep,_

_Pandora leaps._

_Weep, weep,_

_Pandora sleeps.'_

'Both lost to fire,' he muttered. Neither Pandora nor her supposed lover had died in a fire. It had been something else, someone else. Both, equaling two and fire being his only clue so far, but it was too little to draw any conclusions from. In truth, he had nothing.

He bend over the text once more and with the power of his will, and maybe a little magic, he besieged the words to change, to form into the history he was looking for, but nothing happened and when a sudden knock came at his cottage door he failed to notice it at first, so focused was he on accomplishing the impossible.

The knocking continued, more incessantly now.

'Merlin,' a soft female voice called.

It was then that the wizard looked up, vaguely surprised by his surroundings as though he had just awoken from a deep sleep.

That voice, he knew that voice.

'Morgaine?' he questioned. No, he must have imagined it. It could not be.

'Merlin, open the door.' the voice came again.

He stumbled backwards but caught himself just in time, straightened his beard and quickly made his way to the door. And as he opened it, Merlin found that he had not been mistaken, there, in front of him stood Morgan Le Fay.

'Morgaine,' he said.

'Merlin,' she acknowledged.

He shook his head. 'This is not possible.'

'Are you going to invite me inside or am I going to have to invite myself in?' she retorted, raising an amused eyebrow.

Merlin opened the door wider, allowing for her to pass.

'I see you still haven't invested in a cleaner.' Morgaine said, as she circled the tiny room.

'Morgaine,' he swallowed. Not being one for surprises the old wizard rarely found himself in unexpected situations at his age, but this…

'I believed you dead.' Merlin said, having regained a sliver of his composure. He did not understand how she could be here. He could not even sense her in the usual way. In the past, when she was near he could feel her presence from miles away, but he had not sensed her in these woods in over a year, and could not sense her now. It was as though she was there, but then again she was not.

'We need to talk about Pandora,' she then stated as matter as factly as she stood before him.


	20. Chapter 19

So this has been a long time coming. About a year and half. Ha! Who knew it would take me this long to update? (I sure didn't)

I will be back for the summer, because after the summer I will once again have sold my soul to uni (unfortunately these things happen to souls like mine). Which means that if all goes well I will have this whale of a tale done by the end of August. Exactly, that's wishful thinking, you're absolutely right, but hey a girl can dream, can't she? Anyway, I'm not even sure how many of you are still reading Perils Past or still following this story, but even if very few of you are I will say this: good for you! You're in a privileged position, as I will be writing and finishing this story for you! Ah no, that's not entirely true; I'm mostly finishing this story for me, because it needs closure. I need closure. And as it is, ONCE and I are on very unsteady grounds at the moment, I'm not sure if we'll be making it through the next season together especially with what happened after the last season, so we might be breaking up quite soon.

For now though, I'm in blissful denial about it all.

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**19.**

They had moved the statue to Merlin's backyard. It now stood guarded by a legion of rogue run roses, lilies, lilacs, violets and daisies. Under different circumstances Regina might have been able to appreciate the beauty of the blooming flowers that swayed gently back and forth in tune with the chimes of the wind and the songs of the birds in the trees. Under different circumstances she might have even been able to pretend, when she narrowed her eyes at the concrete man that stood in the middle of the yard, that the expression of pure agony on his face was but a blurry smile that had been weathered by years of rain and frost.

Under different circumstances they wouldn't be here at all.

She stood and approached the statue. The sight of it still chilled her to the bone, but she managed to suppress the reflex by turning away. No. She had to look. She had to understand what this was doing to her, was it anger, sadness, betrayal? She wasn't sure anymore. Too much had happened and too little had been resolved between them. And now it was too late.

Morgaine had been the one that had broken the news to her two weeks after she was able to sit up straight in bed and remain conscious for longer than a few seconds. She hadn't believed it. Not at first. It wasn't until she had seen the concrete statue in the back-yard for herself that the severity of the situation dawned onto her. It had hit her like a ton of bricks, a slap in the face and she'd stormed back inside the cottage, afraid that the array of emotions that rushed through her body would cause yet another irreparable disaster.

That was also still an issue she had difficulties accepting. The fact that certain things could not be resolved. Death being one of them. Alibaba and the forty thieves. The dead forty-one thieves.

_'What's to be done about them?'_she'd asked Merlin about an hour ago.

_'Nothing can be done.' Merlin airily stated. 'What's done is done.'_

_The simple answer annoyed her, and the carelessness with which he had pointed out the obvious made her skin itch with anger. Just because something had been done didn't mean it could not be undone. They had traveled back in time, for god-sake._

_'Are you saying the murder of forty-one thieves didn't affect the timeline?'_

_'Oh, no,' Merlin replied, 'It will have a huge impact on the space time continuum. Thousands of lives will be affected, altered, prevented, terminated even; babies that were supposed to have been born, are not going to be born anymore.' He shrugged, paused for what seemed like an eternity while he stared into nothingness, then he took a sip of his tea shook his head and said, 'We are currently residing in an alternate timeline, one that you,' he pointed at her and grinned, 'Single handedly created. Would you like some cake?'_

_'Excuse me?'_

_'Cake,' he repeated a little louder, 'I made it myself.'_

_She looked at him with disgust before dismissing the offer._

_'There must be something that we can do?' she forced the subject._

But Merlin had grown bored of the topic and no matter what she had said he continuously changed the subject back to cake, baking and other unimportant, trivial topics she had had no patience for. The man was clearly bonkers.

She had escaped to the garden, and had sat down on a bench that had provided her with an unfortunately clear view of the statue. She had turned her back to him at first, but hadn't been able to ignore him for very long. Her heart, though scorched black, really couldn't ignore him. So instead, she now stood in front of him. She stared. And there wasn't much else that she could do, except maybe suffer through a thousand small deaths. She was good at that, suffering. She had perfected the art eons ago. This moment only added to the ever growing list of the series of unfortunate events that made up her life, but this time she had no solutions. No curses, no desire for revenge, there were no more roads left to travel, there was only powerlessness. She hated it. There was no other feeling in the world that she resented more.

If she hadn't used the grey magic. If she hadn't lapsed into a coma for nearly three weeks. If, if, if.

But she had been lucky, hadn't she? According to Merlin the fetus that was growing inside of her could have wrecked a hell of a lot more havoc if it had been bigger than its current size, a small underdeveloped peanut. She would probably have died if she had been nearer to term. She couldn't allow herself to linger too long on what might have happened then. It was a hard fact to swallow, for she had wanted a child of her own for so long. She should feel ecstatic, instead she was terrified. She wasn't going to lie; the child that she was carrying, the power it could wield, it scared her. What was she carrying? Was it even a baby? What if it was evil? But how could that be? How could something evil be born out of a love that was so pure and genuine?

Pandora had been evil, hadn't she?

Regina shook the questions from her mind. She could not dwell on these thoughts. Not now. There were precautions she could take, choices that she could make. These were all worries for later. Much, much later.

She had been in a coma for three weeks, in bed for another week. It had taken her days to piece together the memories, as it had been hard to separate fact from fiction, her dreams had constantly intervened and had made her belief that what she remembered was not how she should remember events. Eventually, with Morgaine's help she had managed to make sense of the flashes and the dreams. The forest, Robin and Marian, shooting arrows at trees, the forty-one thieves, the grey magic, she remembered bits and pieces and knew that that was what had happened.

What she didn't remember was arriving at Merlin's cottage back in Camelot. She had no recollection of the state in which Robin and she had been in when both Merlin and Morgaine had lifted them off of the black stallion all those weeks ago.

Robin had had only minutes left then and it had already been too late by the time Merlin and Morgaine realized what was happening to him.

She turned her attention back to the statue, regarded the awkward position it had assumed and a myriad of emotions and thoughts assaulted her once more. Both Robin's hands had frozen clutching his chest, and he stood slightly bend in a position that told her the stonification process he had gone through must have been anything but pleasant. Agony. It was the only valid term she could use to describe the look on his face.

She bit her lip, pinched the bridge of her nose and abruptly turned away.

Four whole weeks she had wasted in bed while Robin had been standing in the yard, turned to stone. Merlin and Morgaine had tried to save him. At least that's what they had told her, and she had wanted to believe them, but try as she might, she knew they hadn't put as much effort into saving him as she would have in their shoes.

If only he had just told her that it had been a curse. The solution would have been so easy. If she had just known that the hex Marian had cast upon him had been a simple Lapidem curse - she could have saved him. There wasn't much she was sure of anymore, but his confession that night in the forest, and the way it had made her feel - despite the anger, the hurt, betrayal - despite all of that she still loved him. How could she not? They would have been enough. True love's kiss would have been enough.

But now.

She looked at him again, and touched his cheek. So cold. Her fingers traced his lips. She could try again. Maybe. Just maybe. Maybe this time.

She pressed her lips to concrete, then waited. Two, three, five minutes.

Nothing.

'It's the stone,' startled she whirled around.

Morgaine. The famed Lady of the Lake was standing behind her, regarding her with such an intense look of pity it made Regina sick to the stomach. She didn't need pity. Not ever. Not from anyone.

'I know,' she answered.

She knew how true love's kiss worked. It was flesh-to-flesh, bone-to-bone magic, as she'd like to call it. She needed to be able to touch Robin's skin. And that was exactly what made the Lapidem curse so incredibly cruel. True love's kiss could safe its victims, but only within the allotted time frame of the thirty seconds before it turned an affected to stone. The Evil Queen had made sure Robin had had another thirty hours before the curse completely consumed his heart. What Regina wasn't able to wrap her mind around was, why? Why had the Evil Queen shown Robin such mercy? It confused her more than anything. Not only had she shown Robin mercy, she had released him and after that she had released Marian too. The only logical conclusion she could draw from that was that the Evil Queen had believed Robin, and consequently, that meant she believed Regina was not a fraud, but a future version of herself. In realizing that the Evil Queen had done something so incredibly unimaginable it was almost too incredulous to comprehend. She had given Regina time. She had extended a kindness to her future self that could only be described as an act of selflessness. And despite knowing about Marian and Robin's involvement with the maiden she had demonstrated that there remained a capacity within her to love and hope even at this hallow point in her life. It had disproved everything Regina had ever come to believe about herself. Notwithstanding the fact that her heart had been so incredibly blackened and her mind so set on revenge Robin had affected her past self to such an extend, it made her wonder. It made her wonder whether she had the same effect on him. If so, how could he keep his promise to Marian and remain true to his moral code, when in the face of that same dilemma the Evil Queen had broken hers.

Regina shook the thoughts from her mind and turned her attention back to Morgaine.

'Have you finally found a way to undo all of this?' She motioned toward Robin.

'I am doing my very best, Regina, but there is very little both Merlin and I know about the Lapidem curse,' she paused, 'I'm sorry.'

'You're sorry,' Regina sarcastically repeated.

She didn't quite like or trusted the Lady of the Lake. The calm air with which the woman trotted about Merlin's cottage and the overwhelming glow of superiority that clung to every cell of her body and exuded an inescapable stench of pureness had made Regina wish on more than one occasion that she had had a bottle of ethanol on her when Robin and she had been sucked into the time portal. There was just too much good surrounding the virtuous Morgan le Fay. In her opinion too much good wasn't good at all. Too much good was just as bad as too much evil. Besides, Morgaine reminded her far too much of the Blue Fairy.

'To be frank, I did not come out here to talk to you about Mr. Hood,' Morgaine said. 'There is another matter I would like to discuss with you.'

Regina arched one eyebrow and crossed her arms in front of her, indicating for Morgaine to continue.

'There is the issue of Maid Marian, by now she has made it back to Robin Hood's camp,' Morgaine paused, 'The other Robin Hood,' she clarified, then looked from the statue to Regina.

Morgaine looked at her expectantly but Regina didn't respond, instead a sudden urge to clean Robin with antiseptic rose within her.

'The two have been reunited, which means that a second distortion in the timeline has been detected by both Merlin and myself,' Morgaine continued.

'That is unfortunate,' Regina replied stoically, she had a nagging suspicion that Morgaine wasn't just giving her this information for the sake of small talk. There was expectation in her tone and demeanor; she wanted something to be done about the mess that Marian had created.

'Yes,' Morgaine agreed. 'Fortunately, this is one problem that we can correct.'

'What are you suggesting?' Regina inquired.

'Well,' Morgained smiled, 'Since the problems Maid Marian has created will affect your future more than anyone else's in this realm or beyond, both Merlin and myself thought it would only be fair that you remove Maid Marian from Robin Hood's camp. After which a memory potion would be enough to wipe away all traces of Marian's current existence.'

Ah there it was, that little something Morgaine needed Regina for to resolve. It wasn't a bad idea either. It could work. But memory potions were hard to come by, and tricky to brew. Like good wine that got better with time it took years for these types of potions to ripen, and then they also required special ingredients that neither the Lady of the Lake nor Merlin would ever be inclined to use. They needed existing specimens, and they needed a lot of it if they were to wipe clean the memories of Robin as well as his every single one of his Merry Man. There was only one person that she knew of that possessed memory potions in such a large quantity. As realization dawned onto her she shook her head.

'No. It's out of the question.'

'We have no other options.'

'Then you have no options, because that,' Regina pointed in the direction of the Enchanted Forest, 'is insanity. You talk about saving what's left of the timeline, but I really am having a hard time understanding how another face-to-face confrontation with the Evil Queen will not disrupt the timeline any further. I'm not going to participate in this madness. You and that batty old wizard will just have to solve this little problem on your very own.'

'I was afraid that that was going to be your answer,' Morgaine answered gravely. 'I was not going to mention this, but I'm afraid you are forcing my hand,' she laced her fingers together while maintaining that insufferable calmness that annoyed Regina even more than Merlin's unwashed beard.

'There is a way to save Mr. Hood,' she turned her attention to the statue, as though Robin needed convincing rather than Regina.

'I don't believe it is an option, but it appears that we both have different ideas about what constitutes possible options.'

Regina took a deep breath, her anger bubbling to the front; it was hard to suppress her natural instincts when it came to Morgaine. She had a feeling about what was going to come next, count on the fairies to be experts at manipulation.

'There is a legend about the White Witch, Jadis. Many, many years ago she was the Ice Queen of Narnia. She had cast a curse upon Narnia, a long and ever lasting winter ensued. We don't know much about what happened to her or how she was eventually vanquished. Much of the information that we used to have on that world was lost in the great fire of 1066. All that is left is oral lore that is still transmitted from one generation to the next. A lot of it is myth. But, what many don't know, which has been proven to be true is that Jadis turned many of her subjects to stone during her reign, and she could undo the curse at will.'

'How?' Regina inquired.

'She had a magic wand.'

'A wand?'

'Not just any wand,' Morgaine paused and frowned, lost in thought. 'It's the first wand. The Maior wand.'

'That wand doesn't exist,' Regina said.

'It does,' Morgaine countered.

'It is supposed to still be hidden somewhere in Narnia. I don't exactly know where, but I am one of the few people in this world who can create a portal to Narnia. And I'm willing to do that and allow for you to search for the wand,' Morgaine hesitated, 'but only in exchange for the Evil Queen's memory potions.' And there it was, the catch.

She had been right about Morgaine.

Too good wasn't good at all.


	21. Chapter 20

This chapter took me longer to write than I originally planned. It might be a little tedious to get through since it reveals a lot of backstory information that ties in with the different elements I introduced in chapters that I wrote like a year and a half ago, but nonetheless it's information you need in order to understand what if going to happen next. Not everything gets revealed, of course. There's still a lot left to explain, which I'm going to leave unexplained for quite some time but it will be cleared up at some point. Whoa, vague author note is vague. I know!

Also, I just wanted to say WHOA! I received so many kind responses from you guys over the past week. I never expected there to still be so many people who are still reading and following this story. Not to mention the new followers I gained this week. You guys are amazing. I have no words. Thank you so much! You blow my mind.

So, here's a special thank you to everyone who continues to read and recommend this story to others. You rock! And I will try to not disappear on you for another year and a half.

I would love to hear what you guys think and feel. Your comments always feel like the extra cherry on top :D

**Side note:**** I added a lot of extra information to the previous chapter over the past week. For anyone who read that chapter before the 30****th**** of June I recommend you go back and re-read it. It contains some extra information about Ali Baba and the forty-thieves and how their deaths affected the current timeline. **

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**20\. **

'No,' she said, but smiled, 'You're clever, I'll give you that, but you should know by now that I do not respond well to idle threats and blackmail.'

'I am not trying to blackmail you, Regina,' Morgaine calmly stated.

'Of course you're not,' Regina snorted. 'You merely have something that I need which you will give to me on the condition that I will give you something that you need but that I don't really want to give to you. You're right, the semantics are a bit off, extortion might be a more appropriate term.'

Morgaine's calm expression shifted to annoyance for the smallest of seconds.

'You of all people should know how incredibly vital it is to maintain whatever is left of the correct timeline. The damage you have already caused—'

'The damage that I caused' Regina cut Morgaine off, 'Was unfortunate, and if there was anything that I could change about what happened I would, but like you and that bearded leprechaun have already made so blatantly clear, there is nothing we can do to restore the timeline, so why bother now? How do you know that what happened didn't always happen?'

Regina had briefly considered this possibility right after Robin and she had been sucked into the portal. What if they were always supposed to travel back? And what if what happened to the thieves and Marian had always happened? She had only entertained the notion for a few seconds back then, for when she had seen Marian and the Evil Queen in the moments that followed she had been forced to dismiss the thought altogether. Marian could not return to Robin, it would not add up with what she knew about the timeline and with what Robin had told her about his wife's death. Nothing would make sense then. But there were events that had transpired in the past that she still could not explain. In the year she had cast the Dark Curse she had been looking for the thieves. It had been the darkness and their evil deeds that had made her seek out new allies. She had wanted to collaborate with Ali Baba, make sure her Curse would be cast, but in the end she had never been able to do so, for word around the Enchanted Forest was that Ali Baba and his companions had mysteriously disappeared not long after she started looking for them.

'It didn't,' Morgaine said. She reached inside her cloak and withdrew a metallic round object that closely resembled a compass.

'This is a Tempus Metrum,' she started to explain. 'They were made by Pater Tempus in the creatura era, or the era better known to most as the time before time. There used to be seven of them, one for every discipulis of Pater Tempus. They called themselves the Moderatoris, and the Tempus Metrums enabled them to jump through time and travel to other worlds at will. For centuries they were the guardians of time, created by Pater Tempus to make sure that no mortal being would ever be able to travel through time or between worlds,' she stopped for a beat as she regarded Regina with some amusement.

'Obviously, they failed. Thousands of years ago when the forces of Darkness threatened to break time itself the Moderatoris understood that they needed to take preventative measures, so they destroyed their Tempus Metrums and then sacrificed themselves in order to preserve what was left of the timeline.'

Morgaine sighed and frowned.

'I am not sure whether what I'm about to tell you next will convince you to return Marian to us or to—' she paused.

'To do what?' Regina asked as she stared at the Tempus Metrum in Morgaine's hand, her interest piqued.

'Two Tempus Metrums were stolen right before they should have been destroyed; the Moderatoris' were betrayed by the daughter of Pater Tempus, a daughter whose name you have become quite familiar with. Pandora Tempus.'

Regina's breath hitched in her throat. Pandora, the wielder of the same grey magic that had latched onto her child, and had done more bad than good so far, that same Pandora was the daughter of the creator of time itself?

'Pater Tempus was Pandora's father?' Regina disbelievingly whispered more to herself than Morgaine.

'Yes,' Morgaine confirmed. 'We don't exactly know what her motives were, or why she wanted to control time, but what we do know is that her actions caused irreparable damage to the then existing timeline. Nothing was ever the same after that, and it is rumored that the portals that now exist and enable mortals to travel between worlds were created and maintained by Pandora.'

Regina shook her head.

'That is impossible,' she said, 'the portals can only be created by either white or black magic or certain magical items that are almost impossible to acquire. Pandora had no hand in creating the Dark Curse, nor the Time Travel Curse that my sister created.'

'Unfortunately, she did,' Morgaine said, 'Pandora changed the existing laws of nature, rewrote them so that it would be possible for either black, white or grey magic and magical items to be used to create portals. What your sister Zelena managed to do she was only able to do because it was based on Pandora's time travel design. However, she never finished her work and in the end she only managed to execute half of her plan. She made portal-travel possible, but she was defeated before she could create portals that enabled mortals to travel through time. Then, with all of the Moderatoris dead and nobody left to understand or use the two remaining Tempus Metrums there was no chance of time travel ever becoming a possibility. That is, until your sister finished what Pandora started.'

Regina frowned, it was hard to wrap her mind around the enormity of what this all meant.

'How?' she had her suspicions. 'How was Zelena able to finish what Pandora had started?'

Morgaine fell silent once more, shifted the Tempus Metrum from her right to her left hand then said,

'I don't think—'

'Because she is the descendant of the wielder of grey magic,' Merlin stepped into the clearing appearing out of nowhere and startled both women. 'Zelena and Pandora come from the same bloodline,' Merlin continued. 'As do you and your child.'

'No,' Regina shook her head. This could not be. Her mother had been nothing more than a simple Millers daughter. It could not be possible. But then, all of them had been born with the gift of magic, a hereditary gift. One that had been so extraordinarily well developed in her sister, there was a time it had made Regina almost as green with envy. It had always been said that the power all three women could wield came from their mothers side and was a gift that traced back centuries.

'You knew,' she stated. 'You knew all along,' she directed her attention to the wizard, his expression neutral as he nodded in the affirmative.

'Why tell me now? After all these days and weeks of keeping this from me?'

'I wasn't sure,' Merlin began. 'It wasn't until Morgaine appeared out of hiding that I understood the severity of the situation.'

Morgaine nodded and put a hand on Merlin's shoulder as if to ease the wizard's burden.

'You see Regina,' Morgaine resumed, 'the Tempus Metrum is no longer a time travel device. The last two have lain dormant ever since Pandora and the Moderatoris' died. There is no one left to wield that type of magic. But when you and Mr. Hood appeared in this timeline the device suddenly began to glow,'

Morgaine turned her attention to the Tempus Metrum in her hand, opened the case, and despite its resemblance to a compass Regina saw that the inside looked more like a watch, but instead of it having only twelve digits the watch appeared to have an infinite amount. Dozens of hands moved around the dial, some dormant, others ticking like seconds and some moving faster than the eye could follow. Regina caught Morgaine's expectant expression, but she wasn't at all sure what all of this meant or how she was supposed to respond to some kind of ancient time travel clock that was supposed to be broken.

'Merlin and I have been analyzing the Tempus Metrum for weeks now and we have come to the conclusion that it appears to be responding to several anomalies in the current timeline.' Morgaine twisted one of the six crowns on the side of the device, the clock lighted up and a holographic image of an enormous globe shot out and climbed high up into the air. Hundreds of tiny dots, lines and patches of land lit up in seconds. Regina gasped in surprise, she had never seen such magic in her life before.

'If you look here,' Morgaine said and pointed at a particular spot in the middle of the globe; it lit up at her touch and zoomed in on what looked to be a fork in an otherwise straight line.

'There is a break in the linearity of the timeline of the Enchanted Forest, it occurred right around the time Ali Baba and the forty-thieves captured you.'

Regina nodded, she could see it; a second line had branched off from the original stem and appeared to be moving in a different direction. The original stem had ended abruptly and had left a little stump where another timeline, her timeline, should have continued.

'But look here,' Morgaine pointed at another spot, 'there is another line that has split in two and both lines appear to still be growing in opposite directions of each other. Merlin and I believe this to be representative of a possible future choice. Lastly,' she pointed at a point right before the fork in the road, 'we seem to be here, at a crossroads. We could go left or right, either way one of these two lines represent the future that you are familiar with, the other, is a new possible future, the one that Marian is creating at this very moment. The fact that neither timeline has ended yet means that there is still a chance, Regina. You can still safe your timeline. It can still happen, as it should happen.'

Morgaine finished and closed the lid on the watch. The holographic image hovered in midair for a couple of seconds, then, without the watch's energy to maintain its astral form it disintegrated and vanished in a shower of bright white particles.

Regina stared at the particles, her head racing with questions and answers. She was a descendant of Pandora. Her child was a descendant of Pandora. Pandora had created the portals, the laws; the entirety of the space-time continuum. Her family had been responsible for all that was good and all that was evil. And time. Time itself, Pater Tempus. Nothing, yet, everything made sense and all the pieces that she didn't know she had lost slowly started to appear and fall into place. And Robin. Robin needed to know. He needed to be there. A strong ache that started in her heart and spread to her fingertips and toes pierced holes in her resolution. She looked behind her, and though she knew he had been reduced to nothing more than a statue she could feel his presence inside that hunk of stone stronger than ever.

'Fine,' she said, 'I'll get you those miserable memory potions and I will restore the timeline,' she stepped closer to Morgaine, and her voice dropped to a cold whisper. 'But after I've done all of that, you will give me what I want, and you will tell me what else I need to know about my child.' Morgaine's eyes widened in surprise and she opened her mouth, but Regina held up a hand and shook her head. 'You're still keeping something from me, little Miss Perfect. I know you are, I perfected the art of deception years ago and I can tell when someone is not telling me the whole truth.'

'I assure you, Regina—'

'Don't even start,' Regina cut her off. 'I know.'

Morgaine looked at Merlin, the wizard regarded her with a severe expression, then gave a small almost imperceptible nod.

'Morgaine will tell you all you need to know about the child,' he assured.

'But—' Morgaine started, but Merlin shook his head.

'She has a right to know.'

And for the first time since she met the wizard Regina gifted him with a small but genuine smile.

* * *

She left late the following afternoon. The skies were clear blue and the same black stallion that had returned to Merlin's cottage four weeks prior already stood saddled, and all set to go. She had said her goodbyes inside the cottage; Morgaine and Merlin had guaranteed that they would be watching over her, protecting her in anyway they could without endangering the current timeline.

She wished there was something that could be done about her appearance in case anyone would recognize her, but Merlin had explicitly forbade her to use any magic, either to change her facial features or to defend herself in case bandits, scavengers or thieves captured her. The grey magic was too unpredictable. She would be vulnerable for the first time in her life.

Avoidance, Merlin had said, was the best course of action. He didn't know that he was dealing with a Queen who had never avoided any type of conflict in her life. She might very well be the embodiment of the word.

She put her left foot in the stirrup, pulled herself up on the saddle and swung her right leg over the horse's back. It felt good to be able to ride again. There was an old sense of safety attached to sitting on the back of a horse, like coming home after a very long holiday. She threw one last glance in the statues direction, a familiar ache tugged at her heartstrings.

'I won't give up on you. I will come back,' she whispered under her breath before she spurted away.

It took longer to get back to the castle than she thought it would. The road ahead was more rocky and unpredictable than she remembered; what's more the sun began to set about an hour after she left Camelot. It wouldn't be long now before the night's darkness forced her to stop and make camp. She resented the thought; the idea of being a sitting duck for the first time in her life didn't appeal to her one bit. She continued for as long as she could, but when she came to a small unfamiliar clearing deep in the wood, she realized she had no choice. She had no idea where she was or if she was still heading in the correct direction. Everything looked the same in the dark. She climbed down from the horse, stroked his mane and scratched him behind the ear.

'Don't move,' a voice startled her, came from behind and an unfamiliar panic erupted inside of her.

'Put your hands in the air,' there was something about that voice. She lifted her arms.

'Now slowly turn around,' the voice commanded.

She did, and as her eyes focused themselves on the dark silhouette that stood before her she immediately realized that she was in much more trouble than she ever believed was possible. He looked exactly the same. A little younger, maybe, but it was hard to tell in the fading daylight. His eyes wearily regarded her, a defiantness she did not recognize clung to them.

'Robin,' she whispered.


	22. Chapter 21

Would love to hear if you liked this chapter. Took me a while to write but I think I'm kind of pleased with the overall result. There will be more soon! I will try to update more than once a week, though I will probably break that promise, but I will try. Anyway, Thanks again for the continued support, kind words and all of the follows and favorites! It really means a lot! You guys are the best. :)

Enjoy!

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**21.**

'Do I know you?'

He kept his bow and arrow raised, a deadlock on her heart while he scrutinized her face in search of something (he wasn't sure what) that made her seem so very familiar to him. Had he met her before? He could have, but he was good with faces, had a keen eye for detail, and this was one face he was sure he would find hard to forget no matter how long ago.

'What are you waiting for?' she startled him out of his referee.

'Excuse me?'

'I don't know if pointing an arrow at someone's heart and staring off into nothingness is your way of making known you're interested in a woman,' she nodded in the direction of his bow and arrow, 'but I can assure you Mister Cupid, that there are other more effective ways to win over a woman's heart.'

He stared at her for another beat then lowered his weapon almost immediately.

'Who are you?'

'I could ask you the same thing.'

'You seem to already know who I am, m'lady,' he reminded her.

Her eyes flashed with something he could only define as panic, and he raised his bow and arrow afresh remembering why he had pointed the weapon at her in the first place. She fit the description. The black half-long hair, olive skin, brown eyes and then there was the black horse. Marian had described her and her partner in crime in great detail to him; she had to be the same woman.

'The posters,' she said.

'What?'

'The wanted poster,' she pointed in the direction of a tree somewhere behind him.

He turned, scrutinized the line of trees in the distance but saw nothing. _What was she?—_ Then realization dawned onto him. He swirled back, too late. The weight of her body knocked into him, his bow and arrow flew from his grasp and fell somewhere out of reach and sight while they both tumbled to the ground. He fell on his back, his hands pinned above his head.

'What are you doing?' he almost chuckled but suppressed the urge as a strange sensation formed in his stomach when he noticed how close her face was hovering above his. She was trouble. He knew it. Couldn't unknown it anymore.

'I don't know,' she said, 'maybe making sure you don't get the chance to kill me?'

He felt himself smile. Couldn't help it. Then as fast as she had pinned him to the ground he hooked one of his legs behind hers and flipped her over before she could so much as utter a whimper.

'I wasn't going to kill you,' he said now sitting on top of her, pressing down hard on her wrists.

'Sure you weren't,' she struggled against him, 'you know who I am, don't you?'

'Stop struggling,' he seethed, unaccustomed to the forces that played with his head and taunted his sanity. What was going on?

She stopped moving and stared at him, her gaze flickering to his mouth then back to his eyes. She swallowed hard before the look in her eye shifted to neutral, and he could only describe the previous darkness in her eyes as lust. It wasn't just him. That poisonous connection that sizzled between them, she sensed it too. But unlike him she seemed less fazed by it, it was as though she had expected this, had prior knowledge or experience.

She pushed at his chest.

'Get off of me.'

'Just tell me who you are,' he repeated.

'Regina. My name is Regina.'

And she _was_ the one he had been looking for. The witch, the Evil Queen, whatever she was called who had kidnapped his Marian. He had searched for her for weeks, feeding that little creature that fed off of anger and pain, wanting nothing more than for justice to be served, born the moment Marian had returned to him. The immense relief he had felt then after months of mourning, it had drained the life out of him. When Marian had conveyed to him what had been done to her and who had done it, it was all he could do not to hunt down and kill a couple of the Queen's black knights right then and there. But the inner turmoil, that desire and want for justice had not abated in the days that followed; he needed something to be done about the way they had been wronged. He had been wronged.

He wanted revenge.

That's when he had began roaming the forest in search of the witch that had killed forty-one thieves and went by the name of Regina and a man that Marian had said resembled Robin right down to his bow and arrow.

'Where is he?!' he demanded, tightening his grip around her wrists.

'Is the coward hiding somewhere?'

He scanned the clearing in search for a leaf, a twig that didn't quite blend in with the rest of the trees and bushes but saw nothing jump out at him. Then he turned his attention back to her, she had closed her eyes and for some reason or another was taking large steady breaths, reminding him of a Wise Woman in deep meditation.

'Tell me!'

'I don't know who you're talking about,' her eyes flew open, and she started to writhe against him again.

'Let me go, or so help me I will—'

'The man that looks like me.'

She stopped and stared at him. By the look on her face it was as though he had just ripped a band-aid from a fresh wound, she went completely slack against him, all the fight drained out of her.

'He's gone,' she said after a short pause.

'Gone where?' but he already knew the answer to that question, the distraught look on her face told him as much.

'Just gone,' she turned her head to the side, closed her eyes and bit down on her lip.

The inner battle that went on inside of her a familiar sight, and suddenly he realized that this witch really wasn't as threatening as he had believed her to be. And his imposter, the man that was supposed to look, walk and talk like him appeared to have meant a great deal more to her than Marian had led on. It didn't make sense. None of it did. Why didn't she put up more of a fight? This feeble attempt at overpowering him was laughable. What was more, someone who had been ruthless enough to kill Ali Baba and all of his followers in the blink of an eye could not possibly be this upset by a single life lost. He felt a pang of sympathy for her, recognized the aching desire to see and touch someone for one last time, as he had become ruthlessly acquainted with the emotion over the past couple of months. But no. It was more than that. He couldn't deny it. From the moment he had found her tracks in the forest and followed her trail to the clearing beyond the trees, another urge had taken precedence over the need to kill her and when he had found her, looked her in the eyes for the very first time he had momentarily forgotten why he had wanted to hurt her in the first place.

Defeated he let go of her wrists and stood.

'He is dead.' Robin stated, not a question.

She sat up but refused to look at him, instead she rubbed her wrists with her hands; angry red marks were already forming around them. Regret shot through him like a sharp knife and the tension that had subsided returned.

'I'm sorry about that,' he said, and felt that he actually meant it.

'What do you want from me, Robin?' she stood and brushed the dirt from her dress, then looked at him.

What did he want from her? He was supposed to want to kill her, that was what he had set out to do, but now—

'Let me help you,' he extended his hand indicating he wished to examine her wrists, but she didn't move, doubt and trepidation making her hesitant.

'I won't hurt you,' he raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, 'I just want to help.'

'Help?' she said, 'First you threaten to kill me and now you want to help me?'

It sounded odd, even to him.

'I apologize for that less than tactful approach,' he smirked and scratched the back of his head. 'I thought you would be more—'

'More what?'

'Well, from what I hear you single handedly slaughtered quite a few of my old acquaintances—' he stopped and searched her face for a reaction, but her expression remained unchanged.

'Let me just take a look at your wrists and we'll sit down and talk for a while.'

She tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at him for a few moments as she considered his offer, then without having any clear reason to trust him she nodded and placed her hands in his. He examined the red marks around her wrists.

'I have something for that,' he reached for his satchel and then indicated for her to sit down on a fallen tree a couple of steps behind them.

'It's an ointment one of the healers in a town not far from here gave me once, it should help with the pain and the swelling,' he kneeled down in front of her and started applying the cream to her skin.

'Thank you,' she said.

They fell quiet for a while as he rubbed her wrists and the odd sensation that he knew her from somewhere and wanted to know more about her returned. Touching her skin as innocent as it seemed, to him it felt like he was almost crossing some invisible boundary, one that he shouldn't, considering Marian. But he couldn't suppress the little electric pulses that made his stomach jump with each renewed touch.

'Done,' he said, 'That shouldn't bother you anymore.'

She nodded and held his gaze longer than was needed. Uncomfortable he stepped away and turned his attention to her horse.

'A fine breed you got there, you must be fond of him,' he said.

'He's not mine,' Regina answered, 'I'm borrowing him from a wizard I know.'

'Oh?' he inquired, trying to keep the conversation going, but she appeared reluctant to give him any more information as she looked up at what was visible of the stars peeking through the canopy above.

'Look,' she said and turned her attention back to him. 'I'm not that good at chitchat. I've never been, to be honest. So, whatever it is, just spit it out and please go back to where you came from, I don't—' she stopped, her eyes glazed over and she moved a few inches to the left away from him.

'Very well,' he nodded, aware that the situation was getting more and more awkward with each new second that past. A desire to ask her if she felt the strange magnetic pull between them too lay on the tip of his tongue, but he pushed the thought from his mind. He had seen it in her eyes, he didn't need verbal confirmation, and then there was the fact that that was not what she was referring to.

'Are you the same Regina that captured my wife? Marian?' he cut to the chase.

'Marian traveled with my companion and me a month or so ago. But we did not capture her. I don't know what lies Marian has filled your head with but my companion saved her life, if he hadn't she surely would not have been able to return to you,' she said.

'My wife seems to think that you are the Evil Queen and tried to harm her. She also tells me that your companion tricked her into believing that he was me.'

'It seems like you have already got all of the answers you need then,' Regina said, her face a stone mask.

'I would hardly think so,' Robin retorted, 'but you are not denying these accusations.'

She shook her head.

'What if I told you I am the Evil Queen,' she answered.

'Then you would have my deepest sympathies.'

She laughed.

'I don't think the Queen would respond kindly to pity.'

'You are not the Evil Queen,' he said.

'How can you be so sure?'

'If you were the Evil Queen then I must say the stories I have heard about you do not do you justice.'

She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to the side indicating for him to elaborate.

'From what I hear the Evil Queen usually kills before she asks questions and she surely would not have tackled a simple outlaw like me. She would let magic do all of the talking for her. So, if you truly were the Queen I would not still be alive.'

'Then if you don't believe I am the Evil Queen, how can you be so sure that the man I travelled with looks anything like you? How can you still believe what your wife has told you?

'I believed her, and I still believe that she experienced what she claims she did,' Robin said then took a deep breath, 'that's why I've been trying to track you and my look-a-like down for the past couple of weeks. But now that I've found you I'm not so sure what Marian told me is the entire truth. I expected you to be more—' he frowned, while he scanned her from top to bottom. She was wearing a simple blue dress made of cotton, and lace that bound her cleavage together at the front, almost alluring but not quite. Hardly Queen material. Hardly Evil Queen material.

'Vindictive?' she offered, 'Malicious? Spiteful? Mean? The type that burns you alive before you see it coming?'

'Well, yes,' he admitted.

'I'm sorry to disappoint,' she crossed her arms in front of her, but some humor had returned to her eyes.

'No, no,' he said, 'Actually, I'm glad my wife was wrong about you.'

She cocked an eyebrow at him.

'How can you be so sure? You just met me.'

'I'm sure,' he said, and he was. He could feel it. She was who she appeared to be. Sure, she was hiding something that much was true, but she was kind, flawed, but trying. He could tell that much.

'You're awfully self-assured for an outlaw.'

He smirked and looked down, another quiet moment passed between them.

'Who are you, really?' he asked, that question had been haunting him for weeks now. Who were these two people that looked like the Evil Queen and himself?

'The man that travelled with you, he knew everything about my life. Marian told me as much. He knew about Roland, the Merry Man, Marian, our marriage…Who is he? How can he know so much about my life? And why?'

He caught her staring at his hands; she took her time before answering as though she was carefully considering whether she should lie or tell him the truth. No matter what she would tell him, he had a feeling it would probably defy all logic.

'He is you,' Regina said.

'I don't understand.'

'All I can tell you is that we are not from here,' she said. 'And I know that you have no reason to believe or trust me, but I never meant your wife or you any harm. I'm just trying to save the man that I love and get back to where I came from.'

'Where do you come from?'

'Storybrooke.'

He absentmindedly nodded. She had given him no answers, but the seeds that she had planted in his mind made him fairly certain they were from another world. A world where there was another him and another her and they were different people with the same knowledge and the same backgrounds. She loved a different him. How very odd.

'I still don't understand, m'lady. You are making very little sense,' he said.

She smiled and reached out to him, he sat down beside her and she placed a hand on his cheek. The unexpected touch made him flinch with surprise and there was that magnetic pull again. He wanted to back away from her, but then again he didn't.

'I have to undo what shouldn't have happened and you,' she softly stroked his cheek. 'You need to let me go, Robin.'

He was spellbound, her eyes mesmerizingly dark in the fading daylight. How could he deny her anything? How could he—?

He blinked then shook his head.

'No,' he said, 'what is this magic? What are you doing to me?' he stood, doubt renewed. There was something off about this entire situation, like he was under some type of spell that she had cast and he couldn't resist her. Was she a witch after all?

She stood too, tried to approach him, but he backed away.

'Stay away from me,' he held up a hand, 'Don't touch me again.'

'Robin,' she tried, but he wouldn't listen, backed away step by step until he had reached his bow and retrieved it from the ground.

'What is this magic?' he repeated.

'It's not magic,' she said.

But he didn't hear her, a voice inside his head boomed that he had to go. Leave now, before it was too late, and he disappeared between the trees, swallowed by darkness.


End file.
